ABC
There are fears Syria's last opposition stronghold of Idlib is a "catastrophe" waiting to happen, with up to 2 million civilians trapped in the region vulnerable to attack from Russian forces and at the mercy of an increasingly powerful jihadist group.
In the Idlib countryside, Um Abdou sweeps the dirt out of the tent she lives in her with eight children. It's been freezing cold in winter and now she's worried they won't have enough water as summer nears.
"It's filthy. What can I tell you about my situation? It's so depressing," she said.
"We get so little water, so little food, hardly any hygiene products."
When East Aleppo was taken back by the Syrian Government in December, Um Abdou chose to be bused to Idlib, in the country's north-west, and camp out with her family rather than stay and live under Bashar Al-Assad's control.
"We are afraid that the regime might even follow us to here," she told the ABC.
"This regime cannot be trusted."
Ever since Russia joined the war in 2015, overwhelming airpower has seen the opposition steadily lose ground.
After years of living under siege and airstrikes, one after another, opposition-controlled towns and neighbourhoods are surrendering to the Government.
Nearly every week opposition fighters, activists and their families arrive in Idlib province.
Two men ride a motorbike through a refugee camp of makeshift brick houses with blue tarpaulin roofs
It is estimated there are between 1.8 to 2 million civilians essentially trapped in the province, with approximately 800,000 of them displaced people from other parts of Syria.
Turkey has officially closed its border so unless civilians are able to pay a bribe, only a limited number of humanitarian cases cross over.
Beirut-based analyst Sam Heller fears it is only a matter of time before regime-backed forces launch an offensive in the north-west.
"I do think that a real catastrophe is on the way," he said.
"I think this onslaught is on the way... just because of the nature of the armed factions there and I think ultimately the intransigence of the Assad regime and its determination to retake this area."
Will Turkey reopen its border?
People who have evacuated from Madaya embrace as they arrive at insurgent-held Idlib city.
Mr Heller said pressure was mounting on Turkey to reopen its border.
"The ultimate choice for Turkey is not going to be whether it can maintain a permanent safe zone in part of the north-west because I don't think it can. I think the choice is whether it opens the border or not," he said.
"We should be trying to think through everything we can to just save as many of these people as possible."
The ABC met Mohammad Darwish in Turkey. He had been evacuated to Idlib from Madaya — the city made famous when images of emaciated children were beamed out to the world.
Mr Darwish was a dentistry student before the war but when Madaya was besieged by Government forces he became one of the town's only "doctors".
He and his colleagues sent out the photos of the starving residents.
Now, his friends and colleagues are stuck in Idlib.
"The people in Idlib are afraid to come under the control of the regime. So honestly they don't know what to expect or what to do or where to go," he said.
"The majority of these people are wanted people. They fear a mass attack on this area."
To make things worse for civilians in Idlib, the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al Nusra — now known as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is becoming the most powerful rebel group in the country's north-west.
They have been enforcing strict Islamic rules over Idlib and the surrounding territory.
Two weeks ago they arrested one of the Free Syrian Army's most famous fighters, Suheil al-Hamoud, also known as "Abu Tow", after he mocked their laws by smoking in front of a HTS sign specifically banning the practice.
He was jailed for 15 days for disrespecting their laws.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a research fellow from the Forum for Regional Thinking, said it was a disturbing development.
"The balance of power is really not in favour of the more moderate rebel groups. HTS over the past few months have increased their oppression of pretty much everyone," she said.
In the past few months, an increasing number of opposition supporters and activists opposed to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham's fundamental rule in Idlib have fled to Turkey to avoid arrest.
"They do not want to talk about it. They do not want to provide the regime with ammunition, in describing the violations being carried out by HTS," Ms Tsurkov said.
"At the end of the day in all of Syria right now the people in charge are the ones carrying weapons.
"Civilians, civil society organisations, citizen journalists, the people who were really involved in starting this uprising have been marginalized and pushed to the side."