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\"Let Syria and Assad protect the Kurds and fight Turkey for their own land,\" he tweeted in October. \"I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!\"

But Ford warned that whatever comes next, the crisis will spill out of Syria, just as Assad and Russia's assault on Aleppo led to mass refugee flows into Europe that bolstered far-right politics across the continent.

While the Turkish-Syrian border is closed for now, al Khateeb and Mohamad both said there are plans to storm the border because they say it may be Syrians' only option to survive.

Even if it kills \"1,000 people, the rest will save their lives and cross the border and be in safety,\" al Khateeb said.

He added, \"This is what people are thinking about because there is no other chance, no other choice for us.\"

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