TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran and Russia on Friday backed a military campaign to retake the last rebel-held stronghold in Syria as Turkey pleaded for a cease-fire, narrowing the chances of a diplomatic solution to avoid what many say would be a bloody humanitarian disaster.
The trilateral summit in Tehran involving Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan puts further pressure on the rebel forces still operating in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, including about 10,000 hard-core jihadists and al-Qaida-linked fighters.
It left the chance, however slim, for further diplomacy to try to separate civilians and rebels from the Islamic militants in Idlib.
While Putin called for the "total annihilation of terrorists in Syria," he left open the possibility of a cease-fire. Rouhani as well spoke of "cleansing the Idlib region of terrorists," while also noting the need of protecting civilians.
Turkey, which backed opposition forces against Syrian President Bashar Assad, fears a military offensive will touch off a flood of refugees and destabilize areas it now holds in Syria.
"Idlib isn't just important for Syria's future; it is of importance for our national security and for the future of the region," Erdogan said. "Any attack on Idlib would result in a catastrophe. Any fight against terrorists requires methods based on time and patience. We don't want Idlib to turn into a bloodbath."
The U.S. also warned against an assault in Idlib, with Ambassador Nikki Haley telling the U.N. Security Council that "the consequences will be dire."
Idlib province and surrounding areas are home to about 3 million people -- nearly half of them civilians displaced from other parts of Syria.
For Russia and Iran, both allies of the Syrian government, retaking Idlib is crucial to complete what they see as a military victory in Syria's civil war after Syrian troops recaptured nearly all other major towns and cities.
A bloody offensive that creates a wave of death and displacement, however, runs counter to their narrative that the situation in Syria is normalizing, and could hurt Russia's longer-term efforts to encourage the return of refugees and get Western countries to invest in Syria's postwar reconstruction. Russia also wants to maintain its regional presence to fill the vacuum left by the U.S. and its long uncertainty over what it wants in the conflict.
"We think it's unacceptable when [someone] is trying to shield the terrorists under the pretext of protecting civilians as well as causing damage to Syrian government troops," Putin said. "As far as we can see, this is also the goal of the attempts to stage chemical weapons incidents by Syrian authorities. We have irrefutable evidence that militants are preparing such operations, such provocations."
Putin offered no evidence to back his claim. The U.N. and Western countries have blamed Assad's forces for chemical weapons attacks in the civil war, something denied by Russia and Syria. The U.S., Britain and France have vowed to take action against any further chemical attacks by Assad's regime.
Reacting to Erdogan's proposal for a cease-fire in Idlib, Putin said "a cease-fire would be good" but indicated that Moscow does not think it will hold.
Bashar Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that the government is committed to regain Syrian territory and "liberate it from terrorism and foreign occupation," adding that there is no de-escalation zone in rebel-held Idlib because "armed groups refused to dissociate themselves from terrorist groups."
He said the Syrian government allowed plenty of time to armed groups in Idlib to lay down their arms and become part of the reconciliation process and dissociate themselves from terrorist organizations.
But he warned that "in case the armed terrorist groups refuse to lay down weapons, refuse to leave Syrian territory to go back to where they came from, the Syrian government is prepared."
Ja'afari said Syria is aware of the humanitarian consequences that might result and "we take all precautions and preparations to protect civilians, to provide safe passage for them to leave, just as we have done in similar situations."
Information for this article was contributed by Amir Vahdat, Zeina Karam, Sarah El Deeb, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Suzan Fraser of The Associated Press.
A Section on 09/08/2018