Abu Fadel, Hassan and Iman… all three are living in Idlib Governorate in northwest Syria. Like 2.7 million other Syrians, they’d been displaced within the country several times, and a part of them ended up in Idlib. The last rebel stronghold, bombed in massive airstrikes led by the Syrian army and its allies, Idlib has become home to a population nine years of war have left shattered, impoverished and without hope for the future. Their backs against the Turkish border, Abu Fadel, Hassan and Iman recount similar stories of everyday life­­—the interminable waiting, fear and horror of war in what is an open-air prison.

In mid-June, the airstrikes resumed in Idlib Governorate, the target this time the zone west of Maarat-al-Numan. Most people in opposition-controlled areas in this Governorate are living in poverty, and many have moved from towns to camps around Dana, Sarmada and Atmeh where MSF teams provide assistance. The displaced talk of an environment of corruption, crime and social violence, and the area where they have taken refuge continues to shrink with the passing months and the Syrian regime’s relentless attacks.