Kids cross into unknown

EMIGRES: HUNDREDS ARE LEAVING EXILE IN TÜRKIYE AFTER 13 YEARS OF CONFLICT

- Cilvegozu

• Fall of Assad regime prompts queues at borders.

Eight-year-old Rayan Assani knows next to nothing about Syria, but in a few minutes, the little girl with long black hair and a Barbie backpack will cross the border and head for her family's native Aleppo.

"It's going to be pretty," she said, speaking Arabic in a barely audible voice, clutching her pink earmuffs in her hand amid the bustle at the Turkish-Syrian border.

There, dozens of children like her were preparing to cross with their parents following the ouster of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

"Our dad told us the war was over and we were going back to Aleppo. That's all," said her older sister, Merve, 17.