SMOKE BILLOWS FROM REPORTED RUSSIAN AIRSTRIKES IN THE SYRIAN REBEL-HELD TOWN OF MUHAMBAL, AMID FEARS THAT A GOVERNMENT OFFENSIVE HAS BEGUN.
800,000 people could be displaced: UN
Russian jets struck the Syrian city of Idlib with a barrage of air strikes Tuesday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump warned such a move would be a “grave mistake.”
Dozens of strikes were reported in 24 locations around the opposition-held northwestern province of Idlib, in what appeared to be the opening salvo of an expected offensive. Israeli missile strikes targeted Iranian military positions in the Syrian provinces of Hama and Tartus Tuesday night, the Britishbased monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, although at least nine civilians were reported to have been killed. Syria’s state news agency SANA said its air defence systems downed several missiles launched from Israeli planes.
Syrian government forces have for weeks been massing around Idlib in preparation for an assault on the last remaining opposition stronghold.
“The government plan was to give the maximum possible chance for a reconciliation, but unfortunately there was no progress in this regards. The radicals are in control in Idlib,” a Syrian government official told The Daily Telegraph. “This looks like preliminary bombardment before a major land operation.” President Trump had on Monday night warned the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies against “recklessly” attacking Idlib.
In a tweet he warned of “a grave humanitarian mistake” in which hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Despite the bluster, the Trump administration is unlikely to intervene in any assault unless chemical weapons are used. Washington has created a list of chemical weapons facilities that could be struck if Trump decided to order a new round of punitive strikes.
Nicholas Heras, a fellow at the Centre for New American Security, said of the attacks: “Russia is sending a clear message to President Trump that he can’t tell Assad to back off.” An estimated 3 million people — half of them displaced from other parts of Syria — live in the province, and it is expected an offensive there could become the deadliest yet in the seven-year war. UN officials say as many as 800,000 people could be displaced and that the already high number of people in need of aid could increase dramatically.
Idlib is the only major territory the rebels still control, meaning those who do not wish to surrender to the government have nowhere left to go.