Baladi News
Staffan de Mistura, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, spoke of civilian suffering, during his briefing to the Security Council meeting on Syria, 16 May 2018.
De Mistura said that civilians pay horrible price, for the ongoing coflict in Syria. He also pointed out that more than one hundred thousands have been evacuated to north western Syria, in Euphrates Shield areas in the past two months, and many are in urgent need of assistance and protection.
Regarding the northern rebel-held area of Idlib, Mr. de Mistura said that if the Syrian government’s previously-used tactic of bombing a rebel territory followed by negotiations and then mass evacuations is repeated in Idlib, it could affect “six times” more people than the battle to retake the suburbs of Ghouta, near the capital Damascus.
"If we see Ghouta scenario in Idlib, this could be six times worse, affecting 2.3 million people, half of whom are already displaced, and will have nowhere else to go."
However, Mr. de Mistura said he was “encouraged” by talks earlier this week in the Kazakh capital Astana, which discussed ways to avoid “the worst-case scenario” in Idlib, referring to negotiations led by Russia, Turkey and Iran in parallel to the UN-led Geneva process.