Iraqis flee Syria as former safe haven descends into conflict

* Iraqis who fled violence at home head for border again

* Families haggle for space on buses out of Syria

* They return as sectarian attacks on the rise in Iraq

By Sylvia Westall

AL-WALEED, Iraq, July 24 (Reuters) - They fled sectarian violence in Iraq years ago but are now desperately trying to get back - crammed into buses, trucks and cars out of Syria, once their safe haven, now descending into civil war.

At a desert border crossing, 560 km (350 miles) west of Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqi men, women and children arrived exhausted in the baking sun, back in the homeland they thought they had left behind.

"There was a huge fire, clashes, cars burning in the street," said Hannan Abd el-Amir who, with her 8-year-old daughter Fatima, fled a town near the Syrian capital Damascus at the crack of dawn.

"No one lives in my district anymore, we all tried to escape," she told Reuters after arriving on the Iraqi side of the Al-Waleed border gate.

"I quickly packed my bags with everything and just left. What else can I do? Syria is burning," she said, standing next to her car loaded with teetering suitcases, chairs, a carpet and a water cooler.

A week of unprecedented fighting inside, Damascus, including a bomb attack that killed four of President Bashar al-Assad's closest advisers, has transformed the 16-month uprising.

Assad's forces have reasserted control over several Damascus areas but have lost ground elsewhere, ceding control of four border posts on the Turkish and Iraqi borders.

People arriving at Al-Waleed said they never knew who to expect at the many checkpoints slowing their progress across Syria - the Syrian army or the rebels. It was not always clear which side was behind the explosions and gunfire that kept them wide awake on the journey.

"When I stopped on the way in towns there were attacks every day," Syrian truck driver Abu Hussein, 32, said. "Assad's army searches all the trucks, checks our IDs and even does body searches," he said. "Then, when you have passed the checkpoints, the road is dangerous and full of thieves."

In the past five days some 6,000 Iraqis have arrived at the desolate Al-Waleed border crossing, paying up to ${esc.dollar}700 per family to escape by car. A week ago it cost ${esc.dollar}100 per family but the escalation in violence sent prices higher, people crossing the border said.

LUCKY

These are the lucky ones: Iraq sealed one of its main border gates further north last week fearing a spillover of violence. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered on Monday that the borders be opened to refugees from Syria and called on authorities to set up camps for them.

The Syrian government controls its side of the Al-Waleed crossing, close to the Jordanian border, unlike further north where rebels have seized the Albu Kamal gate.

"The Syrian Free Army cannot reach this border because it is so far away," border commander General Issam Yassim said at Al-Waleed. "They would still have 300 km to advance to get here," he said, pointing out a lack of villages on the Syrian side that might provide cover for a rebel advance.

Iraq has sent extra troops to reinforce security along its 680 km (420 mile) border with Syria.

Assad's government blames the violence on "terrorists" and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari has said there is evidence al Qaeda members have been using smuggling routes to move personnel and weapons into Syria from Iraq.

Many people are trapped at Damascus airport, sleeping on the floor overnight and desperate to get on a shrinking number of flights, those returning said.

"There are not enough vehicles to take people. People pay money, anything, just to escape," 50-year-old truck driver Samir Kaleh, a Syrian, said.

"The road is very bad from Damascus. There are clashes, explosions and aircraft gunfire," he said. His family is in the Syrian city of Aleppo and he fears for their safety.

Iraq's deputy minister for migration and displacement said bewteen Wednesday and Sunday 6,977 Iraqis had returned. The United Nations regugee agency UNHCR put the number at more than 10,000.

Iraqis returning from Syria arrived to a country still riven with violence. At least 107 people were killed in bomb and gun attacks across on Iraq on Monday.

"I HATE TO COME BACK"

Tens of thousands fled to Syria during a 2006-7 peak in sectarian attacks in Iraq. Iraqi officials estimate that more than 80,000 of their citizens are still in Syria, down from 143,000 before the Syrian uprising began last year.

Syrians are also fleeing to neighbouring countries, with 18,000 crossing into Lebanon between Wednesday and Thursday, the UNHCR said.

Dozens of brightly-coloured holiday buses arrived at the border, crammed with suitcases, shopping bags and pushchairs, the possessions of Iraqi families who had haggled for places that cost ${esc.dollar}80-${esc.dollar}100 each.

Some people had travelled for five hours to get to Iraq, others for days.

"I was in Sahnaya, near Damascus, and I heard a huge explosion. I tried to visit my family in Tartous but the roads were blocked," 48-year-old Iraqi Suad said, holding the hands of her two young children after getting off a bus.

"I heard on the radio that there were attacks on (Damascus district) Midan so at 7 in the morning I decided to go back to Iraq," she said.

Passengers described their slow-motion exit through the streets around Damascus, packed with checkpoints and road blocks as battles raged across the capital. Car journeys that should take 15 minutes took hours.

"I used to love living in Syria because it is beautifu and I hate to come back to Iraq," 19-year-old Duha said. The bus she was in with her family advanced slowly through border controls on a parched road dotted with tangles of barbed wire and piles of trash.

Duha and her family fled, fearing deadlier violence to come. "The situation in Damascus is getting worse and worse," she said. (Additional reporting by Saad Shalash and Seif Tawfik and by Aseel Kami in Baghdad and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)