Fenerbahce fans light flares during the UEFA Europa League soccer match between Fenerbahce and Olympique Marseille at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 20, 2012.

Tolga Bozoglu / EPA

Tolga Bozoglu / EPA
Fenerbahce fans light flares during the UEFA Europa League soccer match between Fenerbahce and Olympique Marseille at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, on Sept. 20, 2012.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP
An elderly Syrian man, who fled his home due to fighting between the Syrian army and the rebels, takes refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A Syrian girl lies on the ground next to her father, while they take refuge at a Turkey border crossing.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Thousands of Syrians who have been displaced by the country's civil war are struggling to find safe shelter while shelling and airstrikes by government forces continue. Many families have taken refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing near the Syrian town of Azaz in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey.
More than 170,000 Syrian refugees have been registered in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, the U.N. refugee agency said.
Photos in this blog post were all shot on Thursday by AP photographer Muhammed Muheisen.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A Syrian man fixes his car at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A Syrian girl, who fled her home with her sleeps by her family's belongings, while she and others take refuge at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Men carry the body of a boy, who was killed in a reported Syrian air force attack in the village of Tel Rifaat, Syria on Aug. 8.
WARNING: Graphic image published at the bottom of this post.
Neighbors and family members dig through rubble of a home that was leveled on Wednesday in Tel Rifaat, Syria, searching for remains of those killed in what was reported as an attack by the Syrian air force.
To cries of "Allahu Akbar", (God is Great), the volunteers used mechanical diggers and their bare hands to search the rubble. Sweating and panting, young men lifted heavy concrete blocks and made piles of debris, trying to reach the bodies of Mohamed Blaw, a mechanic, and his family buried beneath.
Read complete story from Reuters.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Men search for bodies under rubble of a house in Tel Rifaat near Aleppo on Aug. 8.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Neighbors and family members clear rubble away from a body of a boy who was killed in a reported Syrian air force attack on Aug. 8 in Rifaat, Syria.

Serdar Bagis pitches wood to make charcoal near Kizilcahamam, Turkey on July 19, 2012.
By Umit Bektas / Reuters
Every year, in the early spring months, hundreds of Kurdish families migrate from eastern Turkey to the wooded areas of central Anatolia to earn money by making charcoal. Families live in makeshift tents and almost every member of these families takes part in the process.

Kurdish people work to make charcoal.

A woman douses burning wood during a charcoal making process.

A boy plays around wood piles.

A man covers a charcoal pile with nylon to stop it burning.

A mother bathes her child in their makeshift tent.

Osman Orsal / Reuters
A helicopter releases water above a blazing tower block in Istanbul, Turkey on July 17, 2012. A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said.

Alptekin Soykan / EPA
Debris fell from the upper floors of the building, made up of apartments and offices.

Erhan Elaldi / EPA
Firefighters try to put out the fire. Occupants of the building exited wearing breathing masks. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Reuters reports — A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said.
Live images on Turkish television earlier showed debris falling from the upper floors of the building, which is made up of residential apartments and offices, as fire crews fought the blaze.
People wearing breathing masks were led out by fire crews. Read the full story.

Osman Orsal / Reuters
Syrian children play at a camp named "Container City" on the Turkish-Syrian border of Oncupinar in the Kilis province, southern Turkey on July 3, 2012.
Syrians fleeing civil unrest have found habitat in temporary homes located on the Turkish-Syrian border in Kilis, Turkey. The homes are mostly used by Turkish Muslims traveling on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Read more here

Osman Orsal / Reuters
Syrian children play at a "Container City" playground.

Osman Orsal / Reuters
A Syrian family watches television inside a "Container."

Osman Orsal / Reuters
An overall view of "Container City."

Umit Bektas / Reuters
Fenerbahce soccer fans clash with riot police after their team's Turkish Super League, Super Final match against Galatasaray at Sukru Saracoglu stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, May 12. Galatasaray won the Turkish league title for the 18th time after a 0-0 draw at arch-rivals Fenerbahce.
The fans also turned over two police vehicles and set them on fire in Istanbul's Kadikoy district, the Anadolu agency added. Police and citizens nearby quickly put out the fire, it added. The fans also turned over garbage bins and shattered shop windows, also leaving behind streets littered with fist-sized stones, state television showed.
-- Reported by the Associated Press

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
Syrian refugees go about their daily lives at the Oncupinar refugee camp in Kilis near Syria border, April 11. Syria pounded protest hubs, despite mounting pressure from world powers, as peace envoy Kofi Annan said there is still a chance to salvage his plan to halt hostilities within hours.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
Syrian refugee children look out from a bus window after arriving from Syria at the Oncupinar refugee camp in Kilis near the Syria border, April 11.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
Syrian refugees at the Oncupinar refugee camp in Kilis, April 11, 2012.
Nearly 25,000 people are now living in Turkey having fled the violence in Syria. But the exodus is still growing with numbers estimated to be as high as 55,000, Reuters reports.
Yesterday, Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman visited refugees in the Yayladagi camp on the Turkey-Syria border and called for arming the rebels in support of their fight against President Assad.

Umit Bektas / Reuters
U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman greet Syrian refugees during their visit at Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay province on the Turkish-Syrian border April 10.

Umit Bektas / Pool via EPA
U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, meets Syrian refugee children during his visit at Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay, on the Turkish-Syrian border in Turkey, April 10. Annan's visit was first announced last weekend in response to Turkish calls for international help in coping with the increasing number of refugees arriving from Syria. On April 9, two Syrian refugees were killed and 19 were injured, including two Turks working at the camp.
Visitors to the Syrian refugee camp in Turkey included envoy Kofi Annan and U.S. Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman. Turkey is struggling to cope with 25,000 Syrians who have already crossed the border seeking refuge from the ongoing violence. Today, the cease fire is supposed to begin, but France is already calling Assad's promise a 'blatant lie.'
Updated: McCain and Lieberman repeated their calls for arming the Syrian rebels.

Umit Bektas / Reuters
Sebahat Tuncel, a Kurdish member of parliament, runs for cover as riot police disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara March 29. Members of teachers' union and opposition supporters gathered in the Turkish capital of Ankara to protest against a government attempt to railroad the new education bill through parliament which secular parties say is designed to promote Islamic schooling. The government wants to overturn a 1997 law imposed with the backing of the military which extended compulsory education from five to eight years, but also stopped under-15s attending religious "imam hatip" schools.

Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images
Police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on March 29. Police used tear gas and water cannons to break up the demonstration, which had been called by the KESK public service union with the aim of marching on parliament.

Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on March 29.

Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara, Turkey, on March 29.

Adem Altan / AFP - Getty Images
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators during a protest against a government attempt to railroad a new education bill through parliament in Ankara, Turkey on March 29.

Mohammad Ismail / Reuters
A Turkish soldier (2nd from left) and Afghans stand near bodies at the site of a NATO helicopter crash in Kabul March 16. The helicopter crashed into a house on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Friday, killing 12 Turkish soldiers on board and four Afghan civilians on the ground.

Jawad Jalali / EPA
The wreckage of a Turkish Sikorsky military helicopter at the scene where it crashed at the Bagrami district on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 16. Twelve Turkish soldiers were among those killed when a helicopter operated by foreign forces in Afghanistan crashed into a house in Kabul, officials said.
Story: NATO helicopter crash kills 16 people in Afghanistan.
Reuters reports that a government offensive in northwest Syria has sharply increased the flow of refugees into Turkey, with about a thousand crossing in the last 24 hours, Turkish officials said on Thursday. The number fleeing was expected to grow further as long as fighting continued around the town of Idlib, close to the Turkish border, one Turkish official said.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
A girl carries tomatoes as Syrian refugees go about their daily lives at the Reyhanli refugee Camp in Antakya, on March 15. Ankara accused the Syrian leadership of planting landmines near its border with Turkey along routes used by refugees fleeing the Damascus regime's deadly crackdown on dissent.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
Syrian refugees arrive near the border between Syria and Turkey at Reyhanli in Antakya on March 15. Some 1,000 Syrian refugees, including a defecting general, crossed into Turkey in 24 hours, braving landmines laid to stop them by Syria's troops, Turkish officials said today. The head of the Turkish Red Crescent meanwhile warned that the number of Syrians arriving in Turkey could reach half a million if Bashar al-Assad's regime keeps up its year-long crackdown on dissent.
Turkey said on Thursday it might consider backing a 'buffer zone' inside Syria to cope with a flow of refugees, which is estimated in the Reuters report at 14,700. The UN says nearly a quarter of a million Syrians have fled their homes since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began, according to a recent BBC News report.

Staff / Reuters
Syrian refugees play at the Reyhanli refugee camp in Hatay province on the Turkish-Syrian border March 15.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
A girl carries tomatoes as Syrian refugees go about their daily lives at the Reyhanli refugee Camp in Antakya, on March 15. Ankara accused the Syrian leadership of planting landmines near its border with Turkey along routes used by refugees fleeing the Damascus regime's deadly crackdown on dissent.
Today, on the first anniversary of the bloody uprising in Syria, Msnbc.com's David Arnott looks back at how visual coverage of the conflict has been severely restricted, unlike many of the other Arab Spring rebellions.

Burhan Ozbilici / AP
A group of Syrian fleeing violence in their country, walk towards the Turkish, near Reyhanli, Turkey, Thursday, March 15.