Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday calling on the international community to halt Syrian President Bashar Assad’s assault on Idlib province, the last major redoubt of insurgent forces in Syria. “The world must stop Assad,” Erdogan declared.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Monday that over 30,000 people have already fled their homes in the Idlib province of Syria, as dictator Bashar Assad and his allies in Russia and Iran step up air and artillery strikes.
KHAN SHAYKHUN, Syria — Violence in northwest Syria has displaced more than 30,000 people this month alone, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a looming assault could create the century’s “worst humanitarian catastrophe.”
U.S. officials said over the weekend that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad has approved the use of banned chemical weapons against rebel positions in Idlib province, adding to worldwide fears of a humanitarian disaster in the final major battle of the Syrian civil war.
Contents: Turkey fails to prevent Russia and Iran from mass slaughter in Idlib, Syria; Turkey prepares for massive refugee problem; Syria and Russia launch a big, new disinformation campaign; The Greek Tragedy in Syria
BEIRUT — Russian airstrikes on Syria’s last major rebel bastion Saturday were the “most violent” in a month since Damascus and its ally Moscow started threatening it with an imminent attack around a month ago, a monitor said.
The presidents of Russia, Turkey, and Iran met in Tehran to discuss Syria policy on Friday, even as the first round of airstrikes in a massive campaign to capture the last major insurgent province of Syria was launched.
There is “lots of evidence” chemical weapons are being prepared by Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, according to one of the State Department’s special advisers on the war-torn country.
Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, formerly the American ambassador to Turkey and now special envoy to Syria, said on Thursday the Trump administration is determined to retain a military presence in Syria until the “enduring defeat” of the Islamic State has been secured.
Russia issued two warnings to the U.S. military this week that it plans to join forces with the Syrian government and attack an area where American troops are stationed. U.S. officials responded by saying American troops will defend themselves.
The Turkish military is struggling to keep up operations against the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) in northern Afrin, a group primarily made up of the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ). The prolonged operation in Kurdish territory has limited Turkey as it prepares to protect Sunni Arab civilians in Idlib awaiting an imminent operation by dictator Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday.
The White House on Tuesday issued a clear warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that he must not use chemical weapons during the massive assault on Idlib province he is expected to launch in the coming days.
Syria and Russian forces prepare to ‘clean out’ the ‘terrorists’ in Idlib ahead of massive bloodbath.
ISTANBUL – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that dropping bombs and missiles on Syria’s last rebel-held province of Idlib could cause a “massacre,” in remarks published Wednesday.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told U.S. special representative Ambassador James Jeffrey on Tuesday that Turkey wants Syrian Kurdish militia forces to abandon the border region.
President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies Russia and Iran not to “recklessly attack” Idlib province, one of the last strongholds of resistance against Assad’s regime. The Kremlin dismissed Trump’s warning on Tuesday, describing Idlib as a “nest of terrorism” that must be cleaned out by Syria’s armed forces.
The leader of Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate has vowed to fight on in Idlib province, the country’s last major rebel stronghold, in the face of a possible government offensive there.
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Heavy bombardment killed nearly 30 civilians across northern Syria on Friday, a monitor said, in some of the fiercest shelling of rebel-held areas there in months.
Members of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army dropped leaflets over Idlib province on Thursday, warning civilians in the rebel-held territory that they should surrender as the brutal seven-year war reaches its conclusion.
SUWAGHIYA, Syria – Buses began evacuating fighters and civilians from two besieged pro-regime towns in Syria early on Thursday morning under a deal that will allow thousands to leave after three years of encirclement.
Contents: Stage is set for a new humanitarian catastrophe in Syria’s Idlib province; Turkey warns Syria’s Bashar al-Assad not to attack Idlib province
Contents: The Ghouta ‘ceasefire’ turns into a Syrian army scam to steal humanitarian aid; Syria says close to defeating Jaysh al-Islam in Eastern Ghouta
Contents: Russia’s ‘humanitarian pause’ in Syria turns into farce on first day; Report: North Korea is selling chemical weapons supplies to Syria; Areas of control in Syria and Iraq
Contents: Turkey gets bogged down with military ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin, Syria; Syria says it will send its ‘popular forces’ to support the YPG against Turkey in Afrin
Contents: Israel’s F-16 warplane shot down in aftermath of downing Iranian drone; Turkish helicopter shot down in Afrin, days after Russian warplane downed in Idlib; With defeat of ISIS, war escalates, and Syria becomes more fragmented and chaotic
The State Department and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned the Russian government this week following reports of a new Syrian government attack on civilians using chemical weapons. Russia guaranteed that Damascus has destroyed its entire chemical weapons arsenal in 2014.
Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad steps up use of chemical weapons on his own people; UN Security Council is worthless as Syria uses chemical weapons with impunity
Contents: Russia’s Syria peace talks in Sochi dissolve into farce as Lavrov gets heckled; Russia sidelines the failed United Nations Syria peace process; War continues in full force, with Syria and Turkey killing ‘terrorists’
Contents: Turkey’s troops mass on border, preparing to invade northern Syria; Collapse of the Russian ‘peace process’; The growing conflagration in northwest Syria
Contents: Al-Assad’s continued chlorine attacks on civilians follow Putin’s ‘Grozny model’; Syria’s al-Assad threatens to drive hundreds of thousands more refugees into Turkey and Europe
Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad targets civilians and hospitals in never-ending war of extermination; Russia’s ‘de-escalation zones’ turn into total farce
BEIRUT — Over several nights in September, some 10,000 men, women and children fled areas under Islamic State control, hurrying through fields in northern Syria and risking fire from government troops to reach a province held by an al-Qaeda-linked group.
Contents: Mattis and Tillerson work to prevent Iraq vs Kurd military confrontation in Kirkuk; ISIS fighters permitted to leave Raqqa, Syria, with human shields; Syria demands ‘immediately’ pullout of Turkey’s forces from Idlib province
Contents: Iraqi troops and tanks seen massing near Kirkuk, poised to attack Kurds; Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announce unity agreement; Turkey’s tanks and troops cross border into Syria’s Idlib in apparent truce with HTS
Contents: Turkey announces major military operation in Syria’s Idlib province; Turkey’s success in Idlib is far from certain
Contents: International Red Cross: Fighting in Syria worst since Aleppo; Analyst gives a chilling analysis of where the Syrian war is going
Contents: Turkey reshuffles top military leaders in preparation for action in Syria; Turkey announces plans for military action against Kurds in northern Syria
The Lebanese army captured a number of strategic hilltops bordering Syria from Islamic State militants on Sunday, amid mounting expectations for a campaign to decisively defeat them there, the army and state media said.
Jihadists on Sunday took Idlib in Syria, after rival rebels withdrew, strengthening their grip over the northwestern city and its province, one of the last beyond regime control.
Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Boris Johnson’s credibility suffered a blow in the G7 after proposals to levy targeted sanctions on senior Russian and Syrian figures were rejected.
