“Too many civilians have been killed in Idlib, Syria" - UN Special Envoy

UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen said “too many” civilians have been killed in Idlib adding that while the fight against terrorism must continue, “it needs to be proportional to the challenge ahead.”
Speaking to reporters in New York following a closed meeting at the Security Council, Pedersen said the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group was “dominating most of Idlib.” He added that there was a broad agreement among Council members that “it is of course legitimate to fight terrorists, but it has to be done with respect for international humanitarian law.”
The Special Envoy said Russia and Turkey were in agreement on the need to uphold the ceasefire in Idlib and encouraged the two countries to continue working together to uphold the agreement they had reached on the province.
“There are three million civilians in Idlib province. Too many have been killed, and obviously what is happening is not proportional in relationship to civilian casualties and the fight against terrorists. What we need to see is that the fight against terrorist is continuing; it needs to be proportional to the challenge ahead.”
He noted that the events in Idlib were raising questions among Syrians about the political process but stressed that the Security Council was united in deep support for his work on the formation of a constitutional committee, the resolution of the abductees, detainees, and missing persons file, and the establishment of an effective international format to support the Geneva process and a political solution.
Pedersen described Syria as a “deeply divided society.” He added, “There is complete lack of trust. We need to heal the division and to start to build trust to be able to move forward. And without that, we risk what I call, ‘a no war, no peace’ scenario where this will continue to be complicated; and where we will not see a Syria that will be a normal part of the international society, also in the future. And this is what we are working, trying to prevent.”
Pedersen said to was important to understand the “serious challenges” in Idlib, but underscored that he would be making a “serious mistake” if he did not press forward on a political solution. He said, “Yes, we are looking very carefully at what is happening in Idlib, but we also want to continue to work on the political solution that hopefully will bring peace and stability to the Syrian people that have been suffering far too long.”