Leaders scramble for diplomatic solution as Assad prepares for ‘final liquidation’ in Idlib
TURKEY and the US said they were racing to find a diplomatic solution to avoid “a serious massacre” in Syria’s Idlib province ahead of a critical summit tomorrow that is likely to decide the fate of the rebel stronghold.
The world has been braced for weeks for Assad regime forces to attack Idlib, where around 2.5 million civilians are living in opposition-held territory with no clear route of escape if the fighting escalates.
Regime troops shelled rebel positions yesterday, a day after Russian warplanes ended weeks of calm with a barrage of airstrikes. At least 13 civilians were killed in the Russian bombing, according to monitors.
The future of Idlib is likely to be determined at a summit tomorrow, when the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey will gather in Tehran to discuss the outlook in Syria.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, said yesterday that he hoped to use the meeting to reach a deal and prevent an all-out attack.
“God willing, we will succeed in averting the extreme actions of the regime, thereby getting a positive result from the Tehran summit,” he said.
Turkey is worried that an attack on Idlib will trigger a mass exodus of refugees fleeing towards the Turkish border. Turkey already shelters 3.5 million Syrians and Mr Erdogan is under domestic pressure not to take any more.
Activists in Idlib said Turkey had increased its forces at a number of small outposts in the province. Civilians have gathered near the outposts in the hope that Russia will avoid bombing them.
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, also said he was pushing for a non-violent solution. “We are hoping that this can be resolved diplomatically,” he said.
“We share their concern about terrorism emanating from Syria,” Mr Pompeo said. “It is not the way to do that to put the lives of all these inno- cent civilians at risk and create a humanitarian crisis.”
Russia has so far made no commitment not to launch an all-out attack but has pointed to tomorrow’s summit as critical for deciding the future of Idlib.
The country’s foreign ministry has said that Moscow “considers it its duty” to carry out the “final and complete liquidation” of terrorist groups in Idlib. It called on other countries not to obstruct the effort.
“I think the situation from a military point of view will become clearer after, among other things, the leaders of the three guarantor states hold talks on Friday,” said Sergei Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister.
Conquering Idlib would be a major victory for Syrian leader Bashar al-assad on his quest to take back all of Syria’s territory and crush the rebellion which broke out against him in 2011.
The US has repeatedly warned the Syrian regime not to use chemical weapons during its attack on Idlib, saying that their use will lead to Western strikes in retaliation. Western governments believe Assad could be tempted to use nerve agent to try to break the morale of rebels.
Russia has said that Syrian rebel groups might “stage” a chemical weapons attack and blame it on the regime, in order to induce Western strikes.
However, James Mattis, the US defence secretary, said the US has “zero intelligence” that indicated any of the rebel factions have the ability to carry out a chemical attack.