Washington warns of a Russian-Turkish military conflict in Syria

The Pentagon said that the Russians and Turks are approaching a military conflict in Syria, while the UN envoy to Syria spoke of a new imminent escalation, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Idlib.

Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters today that the United States believes that Russia and Turkey are "very close" to a wide-ranging conflict in Idlib, Syria, and hopes that they can avoid it.

Hoffman called on the international community to put additional pressure on the Syrian authorities to make them stop their attack on Idlib, and he refused to say whether the United States was in contact with the parties concerned in this regard.

Meanwhile, the UN envoy to Syria, non-Pederson, warned of an imminent escalation in Idlib, calling on Russia and Turkey to contribute to reducing the escalation, despite the atmosphere of tension between the two countries, which appeared in Turkish and Russian statements regarding an imminent Turkish military operation there, which Moscow warned against.

"My main concern now is the civilians trapped in Idlib and the fighting areas in Syria, who feel that no one is interested in their suffering ... The attack that is taking place in northwestern Syria is now approaching very closely to the densely populated areas in Idlib and Bab al-Hawa," the UN official said in a briefing before the Security Council. .

Biderson called on the various parties in Syria to respect human rights and international laws even if they target terrorist groups, and he conveyed that concern to Russian, Turkish and Iranian officials.

Exchange charges
Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the deadline he had set for the Syrian regime was drawing to a close, and that he was warning the regime for the last time to stop its attacks in Idlib and withdraw to the borders of Sochi's understanding.

The Kremlin responded to Erdogan's statements that Moscow was no longer satisfied with the implementation of the Sochi Agreement, in light of what he called terrorist attacks against the Syrian army and Russian military installations in Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow had not presented any new conditions in the Russian-Turkish negotiations, and asked Ankara to implement only the Sochi Agreement.

This comes, while Al-Jazeera correspondent said that at least three civilians were killed and others wounded by Russian air strikes on residential neighborhoods in Termanin town in the northern Idlib countryside.

A number of civilians were also injured in artillery bombardments by the Syrian regime forces and Russian air strikes on the city of Dana and the town of Tal Al-Karamah near the Turkish border, and the Jericho and Quminas regions of Idlib countryside, and the Atarib area in the western countryside of Aleppo.

The humanitarian situation
In turn, Marc Lockoc, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, warned of the worsening of the humanitarian situation in northwestern Syria due to the continued raids and shelling.

Lockook said at a Security Council session that most of the victims of the military operations are children and infants, and that some raids targeted a camp for the displaced.

On December 18, 2015 the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution No. 2254 calling on all parties to immediately stop launching attacks against civilian targets, and urges Security Council members to support efforts to achieve a ceasefire, and requests the United Nations to combine The two sides to enter into formal negotiations, and to conduct free and fair elections under international supervision with the aim of a political transformation.

In September 2018, Turkey and Russia reached an agreement to establish a demilitarized zone in Idlib, where hostilities are prohibited.

But since then, more than 1,800 civilians have been killed in attacks by the Syrian regime and Russian forces, in violation of that agreement and an understanding to install it began implementation on January 12.

This coincided with the movement of displacement from the city of Darat Azza in the western countryside of Aleppo, after the clashes approached the city.