WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syria against launching an attack on the country’s last rebel stronghold with the help of Russia and Iran, saying the offensive could trigger a “human tragedy.”
“President Bashar Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy,” Trump tweeted.
“Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!“
The United Nations and aid groups have warned that a full assault on Idlib could spark a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in Syria’s seven-year-old conflict.
Syrian government forces are now massing around the northwestern province of Idlib, which is held by a complex array of rebels and violent extremist fighters, many of whom have been blacklisted as “terrorists” by world powers.
Russia and Iran have insisted that extremist groups in Idlib must be defeated and are expected to back regime forces in any assault.
Since early 2017, Iran, fellow regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey have sponsored a negotiations track based in the Kazakh capital to tamp down hostilities in Syria.
Last year, they had designated Idlib as a “de-escalation” zone where violence would halt in preparation for a countrywide cease-fire.
All the while seeking to pressure Turkey into reining in jihadists in Idlib, Damascus’s main sponsor Russia has been sounding the war drums in recent days.
Tehran and Moscow provided steady political, financial and military backing to Assad throughout the war, which has left over 350,000 people dead since it broke out in 2011.
The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said an all-out assault on Idlib and its catastrophic consequences could still be avoided.
Russia, whose air support would be crucial for the offensive to succeed, should understand that a bloodbath in Idlib would jeopardize its own political goals, according to ICG.
“By backing an all-out offensive, Russia risks undermining its long-term political objectives in Syria,” ICG wrote in a nine-page briefing entitled “Saving Idlib from destruction.”
Despite Trump’s warning, analysts believe the United States appears resigned to the likelihood of a final military victory by Syrian government forces.
Behind the scenes, American diplomats have been actively warning Moscow, which has been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to chemical weapon use by its Syrian proteges.
But these “verbal warning shots” have little to do with today’s reality in Syria, said Jonas Parello-Plesner, a researcher with the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington who recently published a study on the US approach to the region.
And that reality, he told AFP, is that “Assad is advancing on the ground, aided by Iran by land and Russia by air,” while the United States places its hopes on a UN-backed Geneva peace process that might best be described, he said, as “moribund.”
Trump said in April that “it’s time” to bring American troops home from Syria — once the jihadists of the Daesh group had been definitively defeated.
While he quickly backed away from talk of an immediate withdrawal, his underlying determination to leave Syria’s seven-year war as soon as possible seems unchanged.
Trump warns Syria, Russia and Iran against Idlib ‘tragedy’
Trump warns Syria, Russia and Iran against Idlib ‘tragedy’
- Syrian government forces are now massing around the northwestern province of Idlib
- International Crisis Group says assault on Idlib and its catastrophic consequences could still be avoided
US senator urges military action if Hamas, Hezbollah remained armed
- Graham’s remarks came a day after mediators urged Hamas and Israel to uphold Gaza ceasefire
- The 2nd phase of the Gaza truce envisages the demilitarization of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas
JERUSALEM: US Senator Lindsey Graham called on Sunday for renewed military action against Hamas and Hezbollah if they fail to disarm and accused the Palestinian Islamist group of consolidating its power in Gaza.
The Republican politician, on a visit to Israel, is a staunch ally of US President Donald Trump.
Beginning in October, a fragile ceasefire has so far halted two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip despite both sides trading accusations of truce violations.
A separate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah also came into effect in November 2024 after more than a year of hostilities, though Israel continues to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory.
Israel has made dismantling the arsenals of both groups, allies of its arch-foe Iran, a key condition for any lasting peace.
“It’s imperative we come up with a plan quickly, put Hamas on a time clock, give them a period of time to achieve the goal of disarmament,” Graham said at a press conference during his visit.
“And if you don’t, I would encourage President Trump to unleash Israel to go finish off Hamas.”
“It’s a long, brutal war, but you cannot be successful anywhere in the region until you deliver in dealing Hamas out of the future of Gaza and disarming them,” Graham added, insisting that the second stage of the truce would fail if Hamas remains armed.
“Ninety days after the ceasefire, they are consolidating power in Gaza,” Graham said.
He also called for military engagement against Hezbollah if it too does not surrender its weapons.
“If Hezbollah refuses to give up their heavy weapons, down the road we should engage in military operations working with Lebanon, Israel and the United States, where we fly with Israel... to take Hezbollah out,” Graham said.
-- Opposition to Turkiye --
The Lebanese government has begun to disarm Hezbollah, starting in the country’s south, and insists it will complete the plan.
Israel, however, has questioned the effectiveness of the Lebanese military, and Hezbollah itself has repeatedly refused to lay down its weapons.
Graham’s remarks came a day after mediators the United States, Qatar, Egypt and Turkiye urged both sides in the Gaza war to uphold the ceasefire.
The mediators are pressing for the implementation of the second phase of the truce, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the deployment of an international stabilization force and the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas.
The second phase of the Gaza truce also envisages the demilitarization of the territory, including the disarmament of Hamas.
Graham backed Israel’s opposition to Turkiye being included in the stabilization force, saying it would “rock Israel to its core.”
“There is no political support anywhere in Israel for having Turkiye being involved in the stabilising force,” he said.
Hamas, meanwhile, has called on the mediators and Washington to stop Israeli “violations” of the ceasefire in Gaza.
On Sunday, Israeli artillery shelling was reported in several parts of Gaza’s southern area of Khan Yunis, according to the civil defense agency, which operates under the authority of Hamas.
On Friday, six people, including two children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of a school serving as a shelter for displaced people, according to the agency.
