UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate end to the hostilities in Idlib province, which he said had displaced 30,000 people in the last week alone, his spokesman said.
Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary‑General, on Tuesday said that the UN Secretary-General expressed his concern about the extent to which the military operations being launched by the Assad regime and Russia has gone. He cited reports about attacks on evacuation roads as civilians tried to flee to safety further in the north.
Dujarric stressed the need to ensure sustainable, unfettered, and secure humanitarian access to civilians, including through the cross-border mechanism as well as to allow the United Nations and its humanitarian partners to continue to carry out their crucial work in northwestern Syria.
Dujarric reiterated that there is no military solution in Syria, pointing out that a lasting solution can only be reached through the UN-led political process in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254 (2015).
Idlib province has been subjected to escalating bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian air forces for more than a month, with violent airstrikes mainly targeting towns and villages in southern and eastern rural Idlib. The Assad regime ground forces advanced on new towns and villages in the past few days with close aerial support.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that 64 civilians have been killed in attacks by the Assad regime and Russian forces in Idlib province in the period between 15-22 December, noting that the victims included 16 children and 14 women. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
