The emergency response coordinators in northern Syria said that reaching an agreement to maintain calm in Idlib province, home to more than four million people, will usher a new phase of stability in the region. They said that achieving stability in Idlib would require serious internal and international efforts.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the emergency response coordinators, a volunteer aid group, called on Western countries and the international community to contribute to stabilization efforts in the region. They urged international organizations, most notably the United Nations, to step up its efforts; provide basic humanitarian assistance; and help start development projects to improve the living conditions of Syrian civilians in northern Syria.
The emergency response coordinators called on local humanitarian bodies and organizations to begin assessing the basic needs of civilians, take measures to boost trade and contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure which was destroyed by the Assad regime and Russian forces over the past several years.
The statement called on the Syrian industrialists and traders at home and abroad to work to restore production and boost trade in Syria’s north as it will positively affect all groups of the Syrian people in the region by creating new jobs and increasing the household income in the region.
Furthermore, the statement called on the local councils in northern Syria to begin setting up specialized committees to take on dealing with the most urgent issues such as a committee for stabilization and a committee for reconstruction whose tasks will be to assess the extent of damage and destruction in the region.
Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria on Monday said that the deal reached between Turkey and Russia for Idlib has brought “hope at long last for 3 million Syrian civilians in Idlib.”
“Russia and Turkey agree on plan that may avert horrific war among displaced people,” Egeland wrote on Twitter.
At a news conference in the Russian city of Sochi on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced they reached an agreement to establish a demilitarized zone separating the areas under the control of the Assad regime and those under the control of rebel groups in Idlib province. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
