IDLIB'S BLOODBATH FATE?

In northwestern Syria, 68 year old Abu Khaled was among dozens to have set up camp in a field, hoping that Turkish soldiers nearby would shield him from bombardment by Bashar al Assad's regime.

In the country's last major rebel bastion of Idlib province on Turkey's border, civilians are scrambling to protect themselves from possible Russian back government offensive.

Fears have mounted that any attack on the region of nearly three million people could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters in Syria's seven-year war.

Dressed in a long white robe and working a chequered red-and-white scarf of his head, Abu Khaled sat by his tent pitched in a field in the southeast of Idlib.

Around him, children played between poles covered in flowery bedsheets and pitched for shelter in the red earth.

One dangled back and forth on the improvised swing, while a women prepared food in a large saucepan on an open fire. ''There was bombardment on our villages so we came here, near the Turkish outpost,'' Abu Khaled said, crouched on the ground.

''It's to protect us,'' he said, referring to the monitors deployed by rebel backer Turkey just hundreds of metres [yards] away.

Last year, Ankara, as well as regime allies Moscow and Tehran, labelled Idlib a ''de-escalation zone''  under a deal that saw Turkish monitoring posts set up in the province.

The United Nations has warned that any regime attack on Idlib could displace up to 800,000 people, and urged key players to intervene to avoid a ''bloodbath''.

Hospital Plan : On Friday, the president of Turkey, Russia and Iran are set to meet in Tehran in a bid to determine Idlib's fate.

Russia backed troops have massed around the province in recent weeks, after ousting rebels and jihadists from other parts of the country. [Agencies]