Trump Warns Syria’s Assad, Russia, Iran Not to ‘Recklessly Attack’ Idlib: A ‘Grave’ Mistake
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday to warn Syrian President Bashar Bashar al-Assad against attacking Idlib, the final province in the war-ravaged nation still under rebel control.
“President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province,” Trump wrote. “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!”
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
Assad’s regime is preparing for an offensive to take back Idlib, with the help of Iranian troops and Russian bomber planes.
“Where Syria and its Russian and Iranian allies see a chance to crush the remaining opposition, Western leaders warn of a humanitarian calamity in Idlib, where an estimated three million civilians live,” the New York Times reported.
Syrian writer Leila Al-Shami wrote that “regime troops have massed on Idlib’s border and leaflets have been dropped on residential areas calling on Syrians to accept ‘reconciliation’ or face the consequences.”
“Idlib is home to some three million people, about half of them displaced, or forcibly evacuated, to the province from elsewhere,” Al-Shami wrote in an op-ed warning that the regime’s attack will crush the last of the revolution.
