A fighter jet roars across the sky over Ras al-Ain, swooping in to launch an early morning air strike.<br/> <br />Forces fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are trying to regain control of the small border town, which fell to rebels last Thursday.<br/> <br />In addition to the aerial assaults, government ground forces have sent mortars raining down on the settlement -- an offensive that has contributed to one of the biggest refugee movements since the Syrian conflict began in March of last year.<br/> <br />In the first 24 hours of fighting alone, some 9,000 people fled across the border to Turkey.<br/> <br />Ras al-Ain, around 375 miles north of Damascus, lies in Syria's oil-producing province of Hasaka.<br/> <br />The region is home to many of Syria's million-strong Kurdish minority.<br/> <br />Syrian Kurds have largely stayed away from the anti-Assad revolt, and many fear that the mostly Sunni Muslim rebels will ignore their aspirations for autonomy if Assad should fall.
