The U.N. special envoy to Syria warned Wednesday that a regime assault on the northern rebel-held area of Idlib would be "six times" more destructive than the battle to recapture Ghouta, which fell last month after years of siege.
"If we see a Ghouta scenario in Idlib, this could be six times worse, affecting 2.3 million people," Staffan de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council's monthly meeting on the Syria conflict.
De Mistura described what he called the classic Syrian regime tactic of a bombardment of a rebel territory followed by negotiations and then mass evacuations from the defeated area.
