Human Rights Watch condemned on Saturday Ankara for using “lethal force” against Syrian refugees attempting to cross over to Turkey to flee the violence in their war-torn country. It called on Turkey to stop turning back the refugees and instead open its border to those seeking asylum. It reported that ten people were killed in recent months by Turkish border guard fire. A major offensive waged by Syrian regime forces in the northwestern province of Idlib has displaced more than 270,000 people since mid-December, according to the United Nations. Many have tried to flee into Turkey, but border guards have been "indiscriminately shooting at and summarily returning Syrian asylum seekers", HRW said. "Syrians fleeing to the Turkish border seeking safety and asylum are being forced back with bullets and abuse," HRWs deputy Middle East director Lama Fakih said. Others described being detained, beaten and prevented from seeking medical attention, and said at least 10 people, including a child, were killed by fire from Turkish border guards. "The Turkish government should issue standard instructions to the border guards at all crossing points that lethal force must not be used against asylum seekers and no asylum seeker is to be mistreated, but should be given access to medical aid when required," HRW said. "It should ensure that all crossing points comply with these core legal obligations, as well as the ban on refoulement," the return of refugees to a country where they could be persecuted. Turkey, which hosts an estimated 3.5 million Syrian refugees, has tried to push back anyone trying to enter across its southern border since August 2015. HRW warned that Syria remained too dangerous for civilians to be sent back, particularly after Turkey opened up a new front in the conflict last month with a cross-border assault on the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in the Afrin enclave. "Conditions in Syria are not safe for refugee returns," Fakih said. "With hostilities in Afrin contributing to the growing displacement crisis in the country, Turkey should allow the thousands of desperate Syrians seeking refuge to cross the border."