Forces gather for Syria’s final showdown, with the fate of millions hanging in the balance

No one planned for a verdant region in Syria’s northwest to become the site of the rebels’ last stand.

But with the Syrian government preparing for a multi-front offensive it hopes will provide a path for finally ending a grinding civil war, the fate of Idlib province and its 3 million residents are now the subject of diplomatic jockeying among the world powers that have had a hand in the war.

As government forces overpowered opposition enclaves one by one, they offered defeated rebels and their families a choice: lay down their arms and accept government rule, or go to Idlib, which borders Turkey.

Many chose Idlib, doubling the size of the province and turning it into a dumping ground for opposition militants.

But now as the government masses its troops near Idlib for an offensive it says could come any day, its military planners will have no such exit plan to offer Idlib’s rebels.

The United Nations warns that hundreds of thousands could be displaced by a Syrian assault on Idlib, many of them people who’ve been displaced before. Though rebel forces could decide they have no choice but to remain in Idlib and fight back, others could try to flee to Turkey, which hardened its border once the Syrian government took the upper hand in the civil war.