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Major Idlib raid could spark worst catastrophe of 21st century: UN
GENEVA, Sept 10, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The UN’s new humanitarian chief warned
Monday that a large-scale military operation against the rebel-held Syrian
province of Idlib could create “the worst humanitarian catastrophe” of this
century.
“There needs to be ways of dealing with this problem that don’t turn the
next few months in Idlib into the worst humanitarian catastrophe with the
biggest loss of life in the 21st century,” Mark Lowcock told reporters in
Geneva.
His remarks came as Syrian troops, backed by Russia and Iran, massed
around the northwestern province ahead of an expected onslaught against the
largest rebel-held zone left in the country.
Since 2015, Idlib has been home to a complex array of anti-regime
forces: secular rebels, Islamists, Syrian jihadists with ties to Al-Qaeda —
and their foreign counterparts.
It is home to some three million people — around half of them displaced
from other parts of the country, according to the United Nations.
Lowcock acknowledged that “there is a large number of fighters there,
including terrorists from proscribed organisations.”
But he stressed that “there are 100 civilians, most of them women and
children, for every fighter in Idlib.”
“We are extremely alarmed at the situation, because of the number of
people and the vulnerability of the people,” he said, warning that “civilians
are severely at risk”.
A major military operation in Idlib is expected to pose a humanitarian
nightmare because there is no nearby opposition territory left in Syria where
people could be evacuated to.
While appealing to the warring sides in Syria to avoid a catastrophe,
Lowcock said the UN and other aid organisations were all doing “very detailed
planning” to be able to respond quickly in the case of a major assault on the
province.
“We very actively preparing for the possibility that civilians move in
huge numbers in multiple directions,” he said.
He said that the UN had plans to reach up to 800,000 people who might be
displaced, and were bracing for around 100,000 people to move into
government-held areas and some 700,000 to initially flee within Idlib.
The UN’s World Food Programme, he said had already prepositioned food
stocks for some 850,000 people for the first week or so of any large-scale
military operation.
“It is a very major preoccupation for us,” he said.
BSS/AFP/RY/1915 hrs