Many express fear of al-Qaeda and its Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. In fact, despite the Turkish government’s accusing Syrian intelligence of being behind the May 11 attack, locals on the street seem convinced that the bombings were the work of Jabhat al-Nusra. They believe that because Syria's 22 opposition groups — of which Jabhat al-Nusra is the strongest — are not strong enough to defeat Assad on their own, a need developed to provoke outside powers to use force against the regime in order to tilt the playing field.

Two things were hard to miss in all these conversations. First, although a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been elected mayor the past two elections, and despite this being a district where the AKP receives 70% of the vote — the greatest such support in the country compared with other districts — people are critical of Erdogan’s call for the US to bomb Syria. Second, they believe that the influx of refugees, which has doubled the population here, is having a negative effect on their community — particularly on its culture, its schools and its economy.

On May 11, this place suffered Turkey’s worst terrorist attack — the official death toll was 53, but residents say 62 actually died. I visited the two sites where the explosions took place just three to four minutes apart, and asked survivors the following: What do they believe happened on that day here? What do they think about the US using its military might to punish Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons to kill at least 1,429 of his own people? What do they think the repercussions of such a strike might be in their town?

Erdogan is now asking the US not to confine itself to a limited strike but to actually make it a large-scale one that will end the Assad era.

REYHANLI, Turkey — As President Barack Obama intensifies his lobbying efforts to win congressional support to launch a US military strike in Syria, I thought the place to be today was nowhere else but Reyhanli in Hatay province. This is because many of its residents believe they were the first to pay the price of the policy of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s government of siding with the Syrian opposition and calling for the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad.

Almost none of the residents I interviewed gave me permission to use their names. “Erdogan will stay in power, and we don’t want to fall out of favor. They will do what they decide anyway [whether to strike in Syria or not],” one said.

Some pointed to an incident that took place five days before the twin car bombings as indicating possible Jabhat al-Nusra involvement May 11. The local residents believe that attacks on the 11th day of a month carry an al-Qaeda trademark; they believe the bombing at the Cilvegozu border gate on Feb. 11 was an al-Qaeda attack. They come to this perception as a result of al-Qaeda’s attack on the US on 9/11.

Cihad Acikalin, a lawyer specializing in criminal activities such as smuggling in Reyhanli, shared documents showing the testimony of Mohamad Saeed Kodaimati and his Mohamad Wael Kodaimati at a police station. Acikalin told Al-Monitor: “These are Syrians, who later acquired US citizenship sometime in their lives, and carry US passports. They say they lived in the US for 15 years, but decided to move to Reyhanli after the events started in Syria as they have close relatives living in Aleppo. And they opened a restaurant here.” He added, “On May 6, other shopkeepers on the street assaulted his son. People were suspicious about these Americans for some time, and could not figure out what they were doing here. When the fighting happened, police intervened.”

Another restaurant owner, who requested anonymity told Al-Monitor, said: “The government gave privileges to these Syrians. They were exempt from paying taxes, license fees for opening a restaurant and all the necessary bureaucratic requirements. It’s difficult times, people are losing money and this started to irritate the people here.” He also said, “No one really talks about it, but people here burned a few cars with Syrian license plates on that day [May 6]. Our locals here were really angry with the Syrians. They even became, to a certain extent, racist against them. These [Syrian] people were not able to leave their houses. They were scared. We’re just seven kilometers to Cilvegozu border gate. Some even left for Syria out of fear. Others moved to Antakya. This was before May 11. That is why there were no Syrians to be found when the explosions happened. But we watched video footage on YouTube where al-Qaeda militants on the hill up there recorded the moment when the explosion took place chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ We all know who is responsible for this attack. But government officials can’t admit to it, because they don’t know what to do about it. It’s them supporting these radicals here.”

Reyhanli has a population of 62,400. It’s now doubled, and locals claim that al-Qaeda has established beachheads in the the villages of Sarmada, Kusakli and Bukulmez, which are all right on the border with Syria. “Before the explosion, they were more visible here as well as in Antakya city center. But then, Erdogan went to see Obama [on May 16] and whatever they decided there, these round-bearded, mustache-less Wahhabi militants all withdrew from here. We still see them but not as often,” one local told Al-Monitor.

Locals claim that only 5% of those who voted for the AKP support Erdogan’s decision to cooperate with a US military strike on Syria. “Look, even if the May 11 attack was the work of Syrian intelligence, what do you think will happen when the US bombs Syria now?” Acikalin exclaimed. “One way or another, the people of Reyhanli have now become the target of Assad. These Syrians are not all innocent refugees. There are also people supporting Assad among them or even people from his intelligence. They know well where these al-Qaeda people are, who helps them and provides them weapons. Assad will now target them here. Turkey was wrong in allowing these radicals in our territory, and providing them with all these weapons, etc.”

At midday in Reyhanli, I heard the sirens going. “This is just for testing to see whether the sirens are working in case when there is an attack — a chemical weapons attack,” Acikalin said. But the locals told Al-Monitor that there has been no preparation for emergency evacuation and no gas-mask distribution to the public. “They gave these gas masks to the soldiers. They are also our sons, but why not think about us?” one shopkeeper said. “It’s disrespectful to us when [Deputy Prime Minister Bulent] Arinc says we have completed all our preparations for the worst-case scenario,” Acikalin said. “Because they make us even more of a target. And you really need to understand this well. We are really worried, and concerned about our lives here.”

While there was no one on the street or elsewhere that I talked to who believed it was Assad who used chemical weapons on Aug. 21, the general perception here is that it was the Syrian opposition that carried out the attack. A 66-year-old Syrian refugee living in a rented house in Antakya, whose wife asked for anonymity for security reasons, told Al-Monitor, “If the US bombs Syria, it will be the end of the US in the Middle East. Assad will retaliate hard with Russia and Iran supporting him, and with all his proxies. It’s going to be bad for this region.” He added, “This whole thing is a setup for America to control the oil and natural gas pipelines, and Israel’s security. The rest is all details. We’re just being used as pawns, but it is they who talk about human dignity, human rights, etc., that are raping the innocence of people — not Assad. If the US bombs Syria, I will go back to fight for my country.” He added: “Erdogan does not know what he is doing. He has just turned out to be a Sunni radical. I see no other explanation otherwise as to how he can turn a blind eye to all the atrocities that the opposition in Syria are doing. They are also killing our women and children. Why is he not saying a word about it? What happened to him and why did he start to hate Assad, his onetime brother, so much?”

Among the Syrians I talked with here in Hatay, I heard none supporting the US strike of their country no matter the rationale.

Still, Murhaf Jouejati, professor of Middle East Studies at the National Defense University, and Syrian by birth, told Al-Monitor in writing from Washington, “If the Assad regime is not punished for gassing his own people, he will be under the impression that he can continuously kill (so as to crush the opposition to his rule) at will without any retribution from the international community.”

Everyone here is eagerly waiting the congressional vote. “You know what this strike means for us,” Yildiz Garbi, an Arab Alawite by birth from Antakya, told Al-Monitor. “These US warplanes will help strengthen al-Qaeda and its affiliates, and they will come and kill us here in our homes in Antakya. This is what we are afraid of.” Another local sighed, “Well, if Americans could find a way to bomb the hell out of these radicals, the al-Qaeda people, let them kill them all. Why do we worry? But we know what America did here in this neighborhood, and how people lost their lives as a result of its mistake. We just refuse to be the collateral damage of Obama’s mistakes now.”

As I wrote this article, Assad said he welcomes Russia’s proposal for it to put chemical weapons under international control. That provides an opportunity to avert a potential military strike in Syria. Still, the decision is for Obama to make.

“We condemn all acts of violence. It does not matter who commits them,” one member of Antakya’s minority group told Al-Monitor. “We know well from experience that there is no military solution to problems such as these. Peace does not come by killing. Obama should keep that in mind when ordering his warplanes to punish Assad. He may punish himself with that decision in the end.”

Tulin Daloglu is a contributor to Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. She has also written extensively for various Turkish and American publications, including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Middle East Times, Foreign Policy, The Daily Star (Lebanon) and the SAIS Turkey Analyst Report. On Twitter: @TurkeyPulse