SYRIAN WAR
UN envoy ready to help civilians evacuate Idlib
Geneva — The UN’s Syria peace envoy on Thursday offered to travel to Idlib to help ensure civilians can leave through a humanitarian corridor amid fears of an imminent government offensive to retake the last major region controlled by rebels. "I am once again prepared ... personally and physically to get involved myself ... to ensure such a temporary corridor would be feasible and guaranteed for the people so that they can then return to their own places once this is over," Staffan de Mistura told reporters. His comments in Geneva came amid fears the Syrian government, backed by long-time ally Russia, is mobilising for a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province still held by the country’s beleaguered rebels. Idlib, which borders Turkey, is home to nearly 3 million people, up to half of whom are rebels and civilians transferred en masse from other territory that has fallen to Syrian troops after intense assaults. A major military operation in Idlib would pose a particula...
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