'We had to leave': Refugees relive horror journey fleeing Syria

Dohuk, Northern Iraq: As fierce ground battles and deadly shelling rocked northern Syria for a ninth day, the toll on families caught up in the new war on the country's border with Iraq started to emerge.

Under the cover of darkness, Syrian civilians are fleeing their homeland, walking for hours through the desert then crossing the Tigris River into the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

More than 400 people have arrived in the past 48 hours, and officials here expect that number to grow into the thousands by the weekend.

9News visited Domiz Refugee Camp, about 60 kilometres from the border.

While we were there, a bus full of fresh arrivals pulled up; three families, with toddlers and babies, who had fled their home city of Qamishli after Turkish mortar attacks destroyed their neighbourhood, killing friends and family members.

"It hit our house, we were so scared, we had to leave," one mother told 9News, crying as she recounted horrific scenes from the past week.

"Our neighbours were killed, I saw a child blown into pieces."

The group waited for hours outside gated area of the camp where they will be processed, and then likely live in small demountable huts or be sent to a similar camp nearby.

When we ask about the future and how they think this conflict will end, it is clear these families are deeply saddened by the violence.

But they are also furious at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"What does Erdogan want from us? We are Kurds, we are human beings, we have the right to live on our land," the woman said.

Mr Erdogan has re-iterated his plan to clear a "safe zone" extending from the former US outpost at Manbij – now occupied by Russian forces – to the Iraqi border.

He then plans to resettle the region with 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.

He told the Turkish parliament that Operation Peace Spring will only end if "all terrorists drop their weapons and leave the safe zone, as soon as tonight".

But the Kurdish fighters, which lead the Syrian Democratic Forces, are resisting the Turkish advance, with fierce gun battles playing out in key towns near the border today.

Neither side is showing signs of surrender. But that's exactly what these refugees have been forced to do in order to stay alive.

"It's unbearable, the world and European countries must stand together and speak up," a Syrian mother said.

"They are," I reassured her. The problem is, the key players in this conflict don't seem to be listening.

The people are afraid: The real toll of the Syrian and Turkey war