Idlib deal provides reprieve for civilians

United Nations : A Turkish-Russian deal to create a buffer zone in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province should avert an all-out military assault and provide reprieve for millions of civilians, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday. Welcoming the agreement, Guterres called on all warring parties in Syria to cooperate in implementing it and ensure access for humanitarian aid to all areas of Idlib, where three million people live.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed during a meeting in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday to create a demilitarised zone in Idlib. Syria and Russia had been preparing military action in Idlib to bring the province under the control of Damascus, but Turkey, which supports some of the armed groups, had called for a ceasefire. The United Nations had warned that an all-out assault on Idlib would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe and possibly one of the worst bloodbaths of Syria’s seven-year war.