More than 1,000 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey Thursday as President Bashar al-Assad's military forces stepped up the offensive against the opposition. Turkish officials said there are at least 14,000 registered Syrian refugees in Turkey. According to The New York Times, Assad's takeover of the cities of Homs and Idlib was near complete. The U.N. estimates that more than 8,000 people have died since the uprisings began on March 15, 2011, while 230,000 Syrians have been displaced from their homes.
