audio, stills, text and or video: Go to zReportage.com to see more - Since the conflict erupted in March 2011, Syria has witnessed unprecedented devastation and displacement. More than 5 million Syrians have fled the country and 6 million are internally displaced. In July, the civilian population in Idleb, particularly women and children, continued to be severely impacted by insecurity due to fighting between armed groups. Abduction of civilians, assassinations, increased violence against medical workers and injuries due to vehicle-borne improvised explosive devises (IED's) were reported across the region. Aerial bombardments across Idlib and western Aleppo continued to result in causalities and injuries among children. Staffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria stated recently, 'If we see a Ghouta scenario in Idlib, this could be six times worse, affecting 2.3 million people.' Eastern Ghouta was the rebels' major stronghold within striking distance of the capital. Rebel attacks launched from the area made reclaiming it a priority for the Syrian regime. A chemical attack on Ghouta in 2013 killed 1,429 people, including 426 children. The attack earlier this year is alleged to have killed almost 2,000 people, the majority civilians, including 371 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 'A full scale battle for Idlib must be avoided at all costs', United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stressed, warning that failure to do so would unleash 'a humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict' so far. More than 13 million people inside Syria require humanitarian assistance, including nearly 6 million children. At the end of 2017, more than half the country's hospitals, clinics and primary health care centers were only partially functioning or had been damaged beyond repair. War crimes investigators and activists have amassed an 'overwhelming volume' of testimony, images and videos documenting atrocities committed by all sides during Syria's war, a U.N. quasi-prosecutorial body said in its first report. The U.N. team said its work would proceed independently of any Syrian peace process and be based on the principle that no amnesty can be granted for 'core international crimes.'
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March 24, 2018 - Damascus, Syria - Civilians wait to be evacuated from Syria's eastern Al-Ghouta province. Eastern Al-Ghoutha was Syria's main rebel stronghold but anti-regime fighters laid down arms after a deal was brokered which guaranteed combatants and their family members a safe passage to northern Syria.
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March 24, 2018 - Damascus, Syria - Cars of the Syrian Red Crescent drive past destroyed houses in Syria's eastern Al-Ghouta province outside Damascus. Eastern Al-Ghoutha was Syria's main rebel stronghold but anti-regime fighters laid down arms after a deal was brokered which guaranteed combatants and their family members a safe passage to northern Syria.
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March 7, 2018 - Kafr Batna, Syria - A young Syrian boy receives first aid in a makeshift hospital after he was injured during air strikes by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad in Kafr Batna, a suburb outside Damascus. According to local sources warplanes targeted residential neighborhoods with rockets carrying cluster bombs, resulting in at least seven dead and dozens more wounded, including children and women.
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March 16, 2018 - Kafr Batna, Syria - A Syrian boy receives first aid in a makeshift hospital after he was injured during air strikes by Syrian government forces in Kafr Batna, a suburb outside Damascus. Air strikes have led to hundreds of deaths and injuries of innocent civilians, many of whom were women and children.
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March 25, 2018 - Zamlka, Ghouta, Syria - Syrians are being evacuated from Zamlka in the eastern Al-Ghouta province outside Damascus. Eastern Al-Ghoutha was Syria's main rebel stronghold but anti-regime fighters laid down arms after a deal was brokered which guaranteed combatants and their family members a safe passage to northern Syria.
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March 16, 2018 - Damascus, Syria - Syrians receive first aid in a makeshift hospital after he was injured during air strikes by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad in Kafr Batna, a suburb outside Damascus, in Syria's eastern Al-Ghouta province.
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March 24, 2018 - Civilians wait to be evacuated from Syria's eastern Al-Ghouta province outside Damascus. Eastern Al-Ghoutha was Syria's main rebel stronghold but anti-regime fighters laid down arms after a deal was brokered which guaranteed combatants and their family members a safe passage to northern Syria.
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March 7, 2018 - Damascus, Syria - Syrian children receive first aid after what local sources say was an attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad on the town Hamuriya in a hospital in the rebel-held eastern Al-Ghouta province, outside Damascus.
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March 7, 2018 - Kafr Batna, Syria - A young Syrian boy receives first aid in a makeshift hospital after he was injured during air strikes by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad in Kafr Batna, a suburb outside Damascus. According to local sources warplanes targeted residential neighborhoods with rockets carrying cluster bombs, resulting in at least seven dead and dozens more wounded, including children and women.
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March 7, 2018 - Damascus, Syria - Syrian children receive first aid after what local sources say was an attack by forces loyal to Syrian President Assad with chlorine gas on the town Hamuriya in a hospital in the rebel-held eastern Al-Ghouta province.
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September 11, 2018 - Maar Shurin, Syria - ALI BAKKOR, 25, holds a shovel inside an underground trench he dug with his young brother to protect their family from shelling at the village of Maar Shurin in the rebel-held province of Idlib.
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May 7, 2018 - A member of the Syrian Civil Defence, White Helmets, carries a child, after the third convoy transporting opposition fighters and their families from the rebel held areas of Damascus arrived at the village of Qalat al-Madiq, North of Hama.
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April 30, 2018 - Idlib, Syria - Syrian children walk among tents at a makeshift school in a refugee camp. The school includes around 300 students of different age groups.
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April 30, 2018 - Idlib, Syria - Syrian children learn Arabic inside a class at a makeshift school of a refugee camp. The school includes around 300 students of different age groups.
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May 18, 2018 - Idlib, Syria - Syrian children who have been evacuated from the rebel-held area of Homs, read verses of Quran, Islam's holy book, at the Great Mosque of Maarat al-Numaan during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic calendar in which Muslims from all over the world refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk.
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May 18, 2018 - Idlib, Syria - Syrian Muslims who have been evacuated from the rebel-held area of Homs, break their fast at the Great Mosque of Maarat al-Numaan, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic calendar in which Muslims from all over the world refrain from eating, drinking and smoking from dawn to dusk.
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May 22, 2018 - Idlib, Syria - Syrian refugees living in Turkey wait to receive entrance permits to cross back into Syria in order to spend the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, at Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border.
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September 16, 2018 - Atmeh, Syria - A displaced Syrian girl looks out of a tent at the largest camp for the displaced Syrians near the Syrian-Turkish border.
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September 16, 2018 - Atmeh, Syria - A general view of the village of Atmeh that hosts the largest camp for the displaced Syrians near the Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib Province.
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September 7, 2018 - Idlib Province, Syria - People of Idlib hold a Syrian revolution flag during a demonstration called by opposition sites 'our choice of resistance' to demand the international community to stop the military campaign by Syrian regime. Protests at the same time of trilateral summit between Presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia in Tehran to discuss the war in Syria.
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September 8, 2018 - Hass, Syria - Syrians inspect the wreckage at a site after Syrian government airstrikes which targeted the civilian hospital with several missiles.
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September 8, 2018 - Hass, Syria - Syrians inspect the wreckage at a site after Syrian government airstrikes which targeted the civilian hospital with several missiles in the town of Hass.
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September 16, 2018 - Atmeh, Syria - Displaced Syrian children play outside their tents at the largest camp for the displaced Syrians near the Syrian-Turkish border in Idlib Province.
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September 16, 2018 - Atmeh, Syria - Displaced Syrian children play outside their tents at the largest camp for the displaced Syrians near the Syrian-Turkish border in the village of Atmeh.
© Anas Alkharboutli/DPA via ZUMA Press
