Russian warplanes bomb final rebel stronghold in Syria

BEIRUT — Russian warplanes in Syria bom b ed the country’s final rebel stronghold Tuesday, a monitoring group said, end- ing a weeks-long period of uneasy calm there and raising fears that an allout offensive would follow.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recorded more than a dozen strikes around the northern city of Jisr al-Shughour in Idlib province. In photographs from the area, plumes of dust and smoke could be seen rising from the edge of a residential district.

After seven years of war, the northern province of Idlib has become the rebels’ final bastion. With Tur- key’s border sealed to the north, it has also become a holding pen for some 2 million displaced civilians, among them activists, jour- nalists and aid workers who fear arrest if they return to life under President Bashar Assad’s government.

In a tweet early Tuesday, President Donald Trump warned Syria and its Iranian and Russian allies that a “reckless” assault on the province would be a “grave humanitarian mistake.” But as news of the bombings circulated later in the day, the Kremlin said the province was a “nest of terrorists.”

“Just to speak out with some warnings, without taking into account the very dangerous, negative potential for the whole situation in Syria, is probably not a full, comprehensive approach,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, apparently in reference to Trump’s comment.

In Jisr al-Shughour, rescue workers and civilians described a rush to underground shelters as some families piled in cars and headed for the border.

“Every five minutes there are new strikes,” said rescue worker Dured Bash.