Syrian Refugee Camps Swell As Idlib Offensive Pushes Toward Turkish Border

IDLIB, SYRIA - FEBRUARY 19: A woman carries her baby as displaced Syrians wait in a queue as an NGO delivers bread in a stadium which has been turned into a makeshift refugee shelter on February 19, 2020 in Idlib, Syria. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech on Tuesday that he would order “imminent operations in Syria’s Idlib if Damascus fails to withdraw behind Turkish positions”. The threat comes after Syria’s government and its ally Russia rejected demands to pull back to ceasefire lines agreed upon in the 2018 Sochi accord. More than 900,000 civilians have been displaced by fighting in or around Idlib since December 1. Idlib is the last rebel stronghold of fighters trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and in the past years has become the last safe haven for civilians displaced by fighting in other areas of Syria, its population has doubled to close to three million people, many of whom are now fleeing the government offensive towards overcrowded camps close to the Turkish border amid freezing conditions, creating a humanitarian disaster. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)