U.S. President Donald Trump accused Russia and Iran of bombing the civilian population of the Syrian province of Idlib, suggesting that Washington is preparing new Syrian campaign to allegedly protect Syrians from Russia and Iran.
"Hearing word that Russia, Syria and, to a lesser extent, Iran, are bombing the hell out of Idlib Province in Syria, and indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians. The World is watching this butchery. What is the purpose, what will it get you? Stop!" he wrote on Twitter.
Trump made a similar statement in an interview before flying to the UK. "I gave people a warning seven months ago, I stopped it," he said. "I don’t like what’s happening. They’re killing indiscriminately many, many civilians. Bad things are happening over there," the Hill cited the U.S. leader as saying.
Since May 21, militants of the Jabhat al-Nusra (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist grouping outlawed in Russia) have been launching massive attacks in the southern portion of the Idlib de-escalation zone on the government troops’ positions, as well as Russia's Hmeymim airbase, using the armor, multiple launch rocket systems and suicide bombers’ vehicles. Russia has repeatedly stressed that Russian bombers strike only bases of terrorists in response to this aggression.
The deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Andrey Baklanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that such statements can be regarded as laying the groundwork for disrupting the plans of Moscow and Damascus to establish peace in Idlib and Syria as a whole.
"We should have expected such statements from the U.S. president. At present, a set of measures is being developed aimed at resolving the situation in and around Idlib, extensive consultations are being held, including on measures of military influence on the militants, which have recently stepped up their activities," he recalled.
"I think that Americans will try to stop the processes aimed at stabilizing the situation in Idlib and in Syria as a whole. The main message of the American president's statement is desire to stop Syria’s progress towards peace. It can be viewed as some preparation for a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but, basically, it was about the specifics of the Idlib situation," Andrei Baklanov concluded.
