A slaughter ignored

This editorial appeared in The Washington Post.

Western governments have been exhausted by the seemingly endless civil war in Syria. Many are distracted by polarizing domestic political conflicts. The result is a tragically muted reaction as the Syrian war approaches a horrific climax in the northern province of Idlib.

According to the United Nations, some 900,000 people have fled a new offensive by forces of the regime of Bashar Assad and its Russian and Iranian allies since December. That includes an estimated 500,000 children. Most of these civilians are crammed into a narrow strip of territory near the Turkish border, which is sealed. Many have no shelter from bitterly cold weather. “Mothers burn plastic to keep children warm,” U.N. official Mark Lowcock said. “Babies and small children are dying because of the cold.”

Russian and Syrian planes have deliberately triggered this exodus by relentlessly bombing civilian targets in Idlib, the largest remaining stronghold of anti-Assad forces. The area’s dominant rebel groups are jihadists linked to al-Qaida, regarded as terrorists by Western governments. But the offensive has made no distinction between them and the more than 3 million civilians in the province, hundreds of thousands of whom are refugees from other parts of Syria.

The only defender of these desperate people is Turkey, which has dispatched thousands of troops, tanks and artillery into the regions. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch an offensive against the Assad forces unless they pull back. Already there have been clashes between Turkish and Syrian troops. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Russian and Syrian aircraft on Monday were bombing Turkish positions.

Erdogan appears to be hoping he can establish a safe zone stretching some 20 miles from the border and including the provincial capital, Idlib city. That would allow civilians to receive humanitarian aid and prevent the refugees from spilling into Turkey, which already harbors 3.6 million Syrians. The Russian government seems inclined to allow some kind of safe zone. At stake for President Vladimir Putin are the warm relations he has fostered with Erdogan, at the expense of Turkey’s alliance with the United States and NATO.

The Assad regime, however, is bent on recapturing all of Idlib, whatever the human cost. It is urgent that the United States and European governments apply concerted pressure to Putin now to curtail the offensive, enforce a cease-fire and allow full humanitarian access.