United Nations, June 17 (RHC)-- The UN refugee agency says some 23,000 people have fled Syria to Turkey in less than two weeks as Syrian Kurdish forces are engaged in fighting against Takfiri ISIL terrorists inside Syria on the border with Turkey.

A spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that the people fled to Turkey between June 3rd and the 15th. “This is according to the figures we received from Turkish authorities this morning,” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said. He added that “most of the new arrivals are Syrians” fleeing fighting in the border town of Tal Abyad, but they also include nearly 2,200 Iraqis “from the cities of Mosul, Ramadi and Fallujah.”

The recent influx of refugees comes as Kurdish forces are locked in fierce fighting with the ISIL terrorists near Tal Abyad and some other areas bordering Turkey. On Monday, Syrian Kurds were reported to have almost fully retaken Tal Abyad from the ISIL militants.

Turkey, along with Western states and some Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf region, has been a major backer of the extremist militant groups currently fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.