Sayeed Muhammad: In a rare call, US President Donald Trump has warned the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies against “recklessly” attacking rebel-held Idlib province.
In a tweet he warned of “a grave humanitarian mistake” in which hundreds of thousands of people could be killed, reports BBC.
Syrian government forces are reportedly preparing a huge offensive on the last major rebel stronghold in the country, with the UN saying such a campaign could have disastrous consequences for the almost three million civilians living there.
On Monday, the US state department also warned that Washington would respond to any chemical attacks by the Syrian government or its allies.
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley tweeted: “All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib. #NoChemicalWeapons.” The government has repeatedly denied ever using chemical weapons.
However, experts from the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said they are confident government forces were behind an attack involving the nerve agent Sarin on a rebel-held town in southern Idlib in April 2017 that killed more than 80 people.
With rebel forces defeated in most of Syria, the offensive in the north-western province could prove to be the last major battle of the seven-year civil war, where there are around 30,000 rebel and jihadist fighters.
An estimated 10,000 are under the command of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a jihadist alliance linked to al-Qaeda that was once known as al-Nusra Front and is dubbed a terrorist group by the UN.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has declared that the government’s priority is to “liberate” Idlib.
His Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, has said Syria’s government has every right to “liquidate the terrorist threat on its territory”, accusing jihadists of using civilians as human shields.
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