Date: Sep 19, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Turkey-Russia deal on Syria's Idlib provides reprieve for civilians: U.N. chief Agence France Presse 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, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday. 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 demilitarized 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. Guterres said he welcomed the agreement to "create a demilitarized buffer zone in Idlib region, which should avert a full-scale military operation and provide reprieve for millions of civilians," a U.N. statement said. In an appeal he delivered last week, Guterres had urged all sides to avoid a full-scale battle in Idlib that would "unleash a humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict." U.N. peace envoy Staffan de Mistura also praised the agreement, telling a Security Council meeting that "we have seen crisis in Idlib averted". De Mistura said the de-escalation would open the door to holding talks on a new post-war constitution for Syria that could begin work in Geneva in the coming weeks. U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said the agreement "may avert the catastrophe we've been warning against" in Idlib but he injected a note of skepticism about its prospects. "Is this merely a stay of execution? Or is it the beginning of a reprieve, the first tiny glint of light at the very end of the darkest tunnel?" he asked. Iran, Russia and Turkey last year set up the Astana process, a negotiating track to end Syria's war that has largely eclipsed the U.N.-led peace process.