After eight years of war in Syria and hundreds of thousands of deaths, the northwest corner is the only rebel stronghold that remains. President Bashar al Assad’s government and his allies have bombed front lines, along with markets, bakeries, schools and hospitals, the United Nations says. Hundreds of thousands have fled toward the border with Turkey and are now trapped between the violence and a concrete border wall.

President Assad’s military – backed by Russian warplanes – has been waging a harsh campaign against an array of rebel factions in Syria’s bloody conflict.

Air strikes and rocket fire have killed more than 700 civilians in the latest army offensive since late April, including more than 100 children, according to the UN. Hundreds of others have been injured or wounded.

With residential areas in ruins, fires have decimated the fields along the “de-escalation zone”, a buffer area brokered by Russia and Turkey that was never fully implemented.