US renews call for Russian restraint in Syria, as Idlib offensive continues

“We’re seeing much more aggressive Russian action in Idlib,” Amb. James Jeffrey, US Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, told reporters on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan 24) “We’re seeing much more aggressive Russian action in Idlib,” Amb. James Jeffrey, US Special Representative for Syria Engagement and Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, told reporters on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing not just the Russians, but the Iranians and Hizbollah actively involved in supporting the Syrian offensive,” he said.

Jeffrey’s remarks followed a similar statement issued by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, the day after a Syrian strike on Turkish troops that prompted Pompeo to also condemn “the continued, unjustifiable, and ruthless assaults on the people of Idlib.” 

Read More: US condemns Syria, Russia, and Iran for escalating attacks in Idlib province 

In 2018, Russia and Turkey agreed to establish a demilitarized zone in Idlib, the last rebel-held territory in Syria. The demilitarized zone was to be maintained by Turkish and Russian troops, and the agreement provided for the establishment of Turkish observation posts there.

Since early December, however, the Syrian regime has been pressing northward in order to bring more territory under its control, including the town of Saraqeb, which sits astride two key highways, the M-4 and the M-5.

The Syrian attack on Turkish forces on Monday occurred near Saraqeb, and Turkey responded with a counter-attack on Syrian forces, in which dozens of Syrian soldiers were killed or wounded.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan then demanded that Damascus pull back its troops and observe the demilitarized zone.

“If the regime does not retreat to areas behind the observations posts, Turkey will be forced to take matters into its own hands,” Erdogan said, as he revealed that two Turkish observation posts were now behind Syrian lines, as a result of the latest offensive.

However, neither the US appeals nor the Turkish threats appear to have had a significant effect on Damascus. Its offensive continued on Thursday, amid an ongoing bombing campaign, while official Syrian media claimed that regime forces had finally moved into Saraqeb. 

“Humanitarian Catastrophe” 

Jeffrey also criticized Moscow’s opposition at the United Nations to providing humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians in areas that are not controlled by the regime.

The UN’s aid program began in 2014, and the Security Council did authorize such assistance last month—but only after Russia had opposed an earlier proposal. The renewal of the aid had earlier been routine, but Moscow’s negative vote in December signaled a hardening of its position.

When the Security Council re-authorized the aid on Jan. 10, it did so on a more limited basis. The assistance was to be delivered through only two, out of four, existing border crossings, and it was approved for a period of six months, rather than 12 months, as before.

However, the most pressing issue now for the UN in Syria is not the aid, but the regime’s military offensive.

On Thursday, the Security Council held an emergency meeting on Syria, called for by the US, Britain, and France. During the meeting, Mark Lowcock, UN Humanitarian Affairs chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator, described a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

There are some 3 million civilians now in Idlib, and as Syrian forces advance, the civilians do so as well, moving toward the Turkish border—threatening that country, and beyond it, Europe, with a new influx of refugees.

“We have seen chaotic pictures in town after town as vehicles line up in every direction trying to flee,” Lowcock told the Security Council. “People who have just moved cannot find adequate shelter. Tens of thousands are crammed into schools, mosques and unfinished buildings. Many are in tents in the mud, exposed to wind, rain and freezing weather.” 

Sanctioning Russia? 

“The carnage in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province has resumed,” the editors of The Washington Post wrote on Thursday, as they noted that the Trump administration was now experiencing “the same Russian perfidy” that the Obama administration had faced.

“Moscow promises to restrain” the Syrian regime, “then goes right on enabling its offensives by deliberately bombing hospitals, schools, and food markets,” they stated.

On Wednesday, Jeffrey affirmed that the Syrian regime “would not survive a week without Russian assistance in the field and in various diplomatic and economic efforts.”

But he seemed to back away from taking any steps that would pressure Moscow to do more to stop the regime’s offensive. “We tend to focus the pressure” in Syria primarily “on the Syrian government,” he told a reporter.

Yet as the Post noted, “The Syrian economy is already in ruins,” as it added, “if the Trump administration actually wants to stem the latest bloodbath, it will need to focus its pressure not on Damascus but on Moscow.”

Editing by John J. Catherine