Syrian Kurds trying to escape an attack by Ankara-backed armed groups in their enclave began today to reach safer areas controlled by Kurdish forces, a local official said.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF/SDF), which is dominated by the Kurds, had earlier stated that they were working to remove Kurdish civilians from various areas of the northern province of Aleppo.

The decision comes after pro-Turkish groups seized a city home to tens of thousands of Kurds and as rebel groups led by radical Islamists launched a blitzkrieg attack on Nov. 27 against government-held areas in northern Syria.

Pro-Turkish groups announced on Sunday that they had captured the strategic town of Tal Rifaat in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, which had been under the control of Kurdish forces.

“A small group of citizens arrived in Tamka. The other displaced people will arrive in succession over the next few hours“, the representative of the SDR Farhad Sami told AFP. He added that a convoy of nearly 200 vehicles was headed for the Kurdish-held town.

“We are coordinating with all parties involved in Syria to guarantee the protection of our people and facilitate their safe transfer from Tal Rifaat area (…) to our safe areas in the north of the countryMazloum Abdi, the head of the SDF, said earlier.

The attack by pro-Turkish groups comes as a rebel coalition led by radical Islamists has taken control of most of Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city, which was under the control of Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Tal Rifaat is located in an enclave controlled by Kurdish forces, and is surrounded by areas controlled by pro-Turkish groups and the Syrian army.

Mazloum Abdi said “the Syrian army and its allies withdrew” from the area in the face of the November 27 rebel offensive in northern Syria, which facilitated the capture of the city by pro-Turkish groups.

He added that his forces had tried unsuccessfully to “create a humanitarian corridor” between that area and areas controlled by the SDF to remove civilians and prevent “massacres”.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, about 200,000 Syrian Kurds are surrounded there.

Tal Rifaat is primarily an Arab-majority town, but tens of thousands of Kurdish families have arrived there following an offensive by Turkey and the groups it supports against the area near Afrin.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to attack this enclave.