Over 2,000 Syrian army soldiers are sheltering in tents in Iraq after Assad regime fall, local mayor says

 More than 2,000 Syrian army soldiers, who fled to Iraq over the weekend after the Syrian government’s collapse, are currently living in a tent city created by the Iraqi government to shelter them.

Iraq’s Defense Ministry directed military units in western Anbar province to set up a camp with hundreds of tents for 2,150 Syrian soldiers, according to Imad al-Dulaimi, the mayor of the nearby town of Rutba.

The Syrian soldiers “surrendered themselves to Iraqi authorities after the fall of the regime in Syria” fearing retribution at home after serving the Assad regime, al-Dulaimi told CNN on Friday.

Iraq’s state-run INA news agency reported last week that at least 2,000 Syrian soldiers had crossed into Iraq as rebels advanced.