WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump warned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies against "recklessly" attacking Idlib, one of the last remaining holdouts for rebels in the country's civil war.
"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!" the president tweeted Monday.
Assad's forces and their allies have massed for an attack on Idlib, and the U.S. and France have each warned that the Syrian dictator may resort to chemical weapons in the assault. The French foreign ministry is "ready to act" if Assad uses lethal chemical weapons, it said in a statement Monday.
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton told his Russian counterpart, Nikolai Patrushev, in a meeting in Geneva on Aug. 23 that Trump would respond forcefully if Assad uses chemical weapons. Russia's Defense Ministry charged in response that the U.S. is collaborating with al-Qaida-linked rebels to stage an incident that would be pretext for another round of Western attacks on Assad's regime.
The U.S. carried out limited airstrikes in April 2017 and again a year later after determining Assad had used chemical weapons in previous attacks. Any response this time will be stronger, Bolton warned Patrushev, according to people familiar with the talks.
