As the forces of the Assad regime advance, a humanitarian crisis is taking place near the Turkish border. • The army has laid siege to the city of a-Na'aman cave.

• Makeshift refugee camp near the Turkish border // Photo: AP

More than 235,000 people have fled their homes following the Assad regime's winter offensive in northwestern Syria, the United Nations released in a special report on Friday.

The attack, which lasted more than two weeks, caused hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes and flee toward the Turkish border in the freezing cold. It is estimated that close to a hundred civilians were killed in the regime bombing of Adlib district, the last province left by Syrian rebels.

Earlier today, the Assad army was reported to have conquered the village of Al-Surman in the Adlib district. The village, which is considered a central junction, is about 17 kilometers from the key city of a-Na'aman Cave. The regime forces are now closing in on the city in three directions and the insurgents are preparing for a desperate offensive to repel the army.

Kaanan al-Ahmed, a senior member of the National Liberation Front, a secular rebel organization, said in response to the attack: "The regime has laid siege to al-Na'aman's cave in three directions. Surrender. "

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Major Russian police forces entered a number of positions occupied by Assad Army forces in the past week, including a former U.S. base in the northeastern state. The deployment of Russian military police is intended to facilitate dialogue with the local population, which does not trust the regime's forces.

The Assad regime now controls more than 70 percent of Syria's territory, after nearly nine years of civil war that claimed the lives of half a million people and caused more than four million refugees to leave the country.