Jan Egeland, adviser to the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, said the body will ask Turkey to keep its borders open for civilians to flee in the event of a regime offensive against Idlib, a rebel-held province on Syria’s northwest border with Turkey. Egeland warned the offensive could propel some 2.5 million people toward Turkey, which is already host to over more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees.

Egeland’s appeal came amid news that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be traveling to Turkey on Aug. 13-14 for meetings with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. The main topic of discussion is expected to be Idlib.

Egeland said, “Russia, Iran and Turkey told a meeting of the Syria humanitarian task force on Thursday that they would do their utmost to avoid a battle that would threaten millions of civilians in opposition-held Idlib.”

In an ominous sign, regime helicopters reportedly began dropping fliers on Idlib, calling on residents to lay down their arms and collaborate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In copies shared by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the leaflets say the Syrian war "is close to an end," that it's time to stop the bloodletting and that residents should join reconciliation "as our people did in other parts of Syria."