Full-Scale Military Attack must be Avoided in Syria’s Idlib: UN Negotiator

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura and his Special Advisor, Jan Egeland, speak to the press following the meeting of the Humanitarian Access Task Force.
OSE Syria - Media Stakeout: Humanitarian Access Task Force (Geneva, 4 September 2018)
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The UN’s top humanitarian advisor for Syria appealed for “sanity now at the end, hopefully, of this, the worst war of our generation” and said it was no way to “liberate a people or to save a city by crushing it with the civilians inside.”
Jan Egeland, the Special Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, told journalist in Geneva today (4 Sep) that intense humanitarian and political diplomacy on Idlib was ongoing. He added, “if it succeeds we will have hundreds of thousands of lives spared; if it fails in the next days and hours we could see a battle more cruel than any previous battle in this, the cruelest war of our generation.”
Egeland said he is looking to Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the western countries with influence on the parties to come with hope for civilians. He noted that there are more babies than terrorists in Idlib with over one million children in the area.
The Special advisor said hundreds of thousands of people fled to Idlib because it was considered safe as a recognized de-escalation zone by the Astana guarantors. He noted that it was possible to end fighting through talks in Idlib as was done in other places.
Egeland said the building of forces and the fortification inside Idlib signal that innocents would die at a much higher ratio than armed men in a war scenario, which would also endanger the humanitarian lifeline for some two million people.
Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria:
“We are prepared now in our planning for war, but we pray there will be no war. We cannot have war in Idlib because it’s filled to the brim with the internally displaced, with civilians.”
The Special advisor appealed for “sanity” which would mean “not repeating eastern Aleppo, eastern Ghouta, and Ar-Raqa; it is no way to liberate a people or to save a city by crushing it with the civilians inside.” He said armed opposition groups destroyed bridges in the city which meant that civilians do not have freedom of movement.
Egeland said a humanitarian response plan has been launched for Idlib which calls for 310 million USD but the funds were not available adding that the current humanitarian operation was barely funded.