I was among Syrian refugees on the Greek island of Kos when news broke of the Paris terror attacks.

For a week running up to that dark day in Paris last week I had been journeying along the route taken by thousands fleeing the fighting in Syria hoping for sanctuary in Europe.

From the Turkish city of Gaziantep that sits close to the Syrian border, through the port cities of Izmir and Bodrum and across the Aegean to the Greek islands, I listened to the stories of those seeking to escape the horrors of this increasingly bitter conflict that has raged now for more than four years.

As news of the Paris attacks filtered through to refugees in Kos, there was a sense of foreboding, many knowing that their onward journey through the Balkans to their final destinations in Western Europe would become even more exacting.

Many I talked with feared that the shutters would now come down, more barriers would be put in place and ever greater restrictions on movement enforced. They have every reason to worry.

Already the Paris attacks have seriously challenged the continuity of the the Schengen Agreement, which eliminated border controls in Europe.

As of early this week, the Schengen Agreement is effectively suspended in many places.

France has re-established border controls, as have Sweden, Germany and Slovenia. Hungary meanwhile has built a fence to protect its border with Serbia, which is not a member of the treaty.

So far all these actions have taken place within the framework of Schengen, which allows for the temporary reintroduction of border controls during emergencies. But the big question now is whether Schengen itself will be formally abolished.

Ultimately of course the future of the treaty lies in the hands of European voters. The bottom line here is that if popular sentiment turns against Schengen, then after the next electoral cycle even more moderate governments could withdraw from the agreement.

This brings me back to the plight of those Syrian refugees that I met during my recent assignment.

Those I spoke with on the day of the Paris attacks were, like most decent people, appalled. They were also quick to rightly point out that they themselves were fleeing the very same terrorists that had inflicted such a loss of life in Paris.

“I have lived with the thugs of Islamic State (IS) for years in my district, watching them throw people from buildings, beheading or stoning people to death, this is why I’m here now with my family,” one man from Aleppo Governorate told me.

Another made the point that the authorities in Paris would never dream of blocking off neighbourhoods to prevent innocents running away from terrorists on the rampage. Why then, he asked do European governments want to shut down borders preventing ordinary Syrian from getting as far away as possible from the worst excesses of IS?

What struck me while talking to so many of these Syrians is how many, only now after years living in the shadow of war, have finally decided to leave.

Contrary to the general perception among some people in Europe many Syrian refugees have no intention of travelling any further than neighbouring Turkey, firm in the belief that they are best placed to return to their homeland when peace returns.

That we can expect more making the full journey to Europe is now a certainty given the escalation in fighting across swathes of the country. Time and again when asked why they had chosen this moment to make their move out across the border with Turkey I was told that recent Russian airstrikes were the final straw in forcing them to flee.

Perhaps even more worrying are accounts of Syrian civilians being caught in the cross hairs of these Russian airstrikes as they travel in convoys through the countryside. According to Human Rights Watch in one instance in Homs Province Russian aircraft killed a total of 59 civilians, including 33 children, at a residence and near a bakery.

Given the consistency of accounts I was given of the situation on the ground there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Russian warplanes bombing Syria daily are sending a massive new wave of refugees in the direction of Turkey and Europe.

This has been borne out by the latest figures collated by the UN Office for the Coordination of humanitarian affairs which says that more than 120,000 people have been displaced since early October because of Russian and Syrian strikes and new ground offensives launched by government forces.

Add to this French President François Hollande’s remarks that his country is now “at war” with IS, the escalation of French airstrikes in the wake of the Paris attacks and now talk by PM David Cameron proposing extending Britain’s military role from Iraq to Syria, and the scene is set for a rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation inside Syria.

The simple inescapable fact that is that Western acquiescence to a stepped-up Russian campaign of air-strikes is certain to force even more Syrians out of their homes. And here is the rub. Europe cannot have it both ways bombing Syria on the one hand then complaining that ever greater numbers of refugees are heading our way.