Russia, Iran threaten ominously on eve of Idlib offensive

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) – “There is no place for terrorists in Syria, and the Syrian government has every right to seek their liquidation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a speech at Moscow University on Monday.

Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, spoke similarly in a visit to Syria. Terrorists must be “cleaned out” of Idlib, Zarif stated, shortly after arriving in Damascus on Monday.

Russia and Iran are Syria’s two closest allies, and their ominous words came against a backdrop of continuing claims that Syrian rebels are preparing to use chemical weapons in a “false flag” operation that would serve to legitimize another military strike on Syria by the US and its European allies.

That charge—which US officials have decisively dismissed—can readily be seen as a cover for Syrian plans to use chemical weapons in its impending offensive on Idlib.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert warned that the US would hold both Syria and Russia “accountable” for the use of chemical weapons.

Indeed, the US imposed sanctions on Russia a week ago for using the sophisticated nerve agent, novichok, in an attempt to assassinate the former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in Britain.

And late on Monday, US President Donald Trump tweeted a warning to Assad against “recklessly” attacking Idlib, while putting Russia and Iran on notice.

“Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!” Trump wrote.

President Bashar al-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. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2018

Yury Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s senior aide on international affairs, provided some detail about a summit on the Syrian conflict that will be held on Friday in Tehran and which will include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as the Russian and Iranian leaders.

Ushakov told the Russian press that there is a “looming false flag” operation planned for Idlib “using chemical weapons,” and this false-flag operation will be among the topics Putin will raise at the summit.

For Turkey, which borders Idlib, a major, Syrian offensive would be a “disaster.”

It would “lead to a new wave of refugees and a humanitarian catastrophe,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned recently in Moscow.

Cavusoglu led a delegation of senior security officials, including Turkey’s Defense Minister and its head of intelligence, to Russia ten days ago, in an attempt to avert such a catastrophe. However, as an informed Turkish source told Kurdistan 24, the delegation received very little from the Russians.

Turkey already hosts some three million Syrian refugees and has said that it will not accept any more.

“After seven years of war,” Idlib is “bursting with some 3 million people, more than half displaced from elsewhere in Syria,” The Washington Post has warned. With Turkey’s border “sealed shut,” they could “have nowhere to run.”