UN echoes Erdoğan, fears potential catastrophe in Idlib

UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura on Friday echoed remarks by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, saying the world needs to avoid a "potential catastrophe" in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

Speaking via video conference at a meeting of the UN Security Council, De Mistura emphasized the need for civilian voices in Idlib to be heard by the international community.

The Bashar al-Assad regime recently announced plans to launch a major military offensive in Idlib, which is controlled by various armed opposition groups.

During his remarks to the council, the UN envoy held up a photo of a woman civilian in Idlib and noted that 98.8 percent of the population in the area are civilians.

De Mistura also received a letter from 1,000 women currently in Idlib, who urged the international community to remember that they are civilians, not terrorists.

"They are teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, writers and homemakers, and many of them came from many parts of Syria. So Idlib in many ways symbolizes a mosaic of Syria," de Mistura said.

He went further to say that while there are different armed groups in Idlib, there needs to be a different approach in order to separate them from the rest of the population.

On Friday, the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey met in Tehran to discuss the situation and planned offensive in Idlib by the Assad regime. De Mistura noted that Erdoğan had put a substantive number of ideas on the table, and he is looking forward to hearing more.

De Mistura will meet with representatives of the three countries in Geneva next week.

"We want a country without war, and we want a future in which we can be alive. They too are against terrorists, but they cannot show that because the situation is very difficult," he said on behalf of the population of Idlib.

Located near the Turkish border, Idlib is home to more than 3 million Syrians, many of whom fled from other cities following attacks by the regime forces.