(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. wants a cease-fire in the Syrian province of Idlib as the Russian-backed Assad regime clashes with militants in renewed violence that threatens to cause another large displacement of civilians in the war-torn country.
“What we really need in Idlib and throughout the rest of the country is a cease-fire," James Jeffrey, the U.S. special representative for Syria engagement, said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday. The clashes put “tremendous pressure on civilians, they raise the specter of nation-to-nation clash. We are very much engaged in trying to get this stopped and get it back to the cease-fire we've had basically since September.”
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo raised concerns about the clashes this month with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, saying the U.S. wants to work with Russia to "move forward on the political track" to minimize suffering. The Syrian civil war uprooted about half the country's prewar population of 22 million, creating more than 5 million refugees.
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Russia's military intervention in Syria since 2015 shored up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad when he was at risk of being overthrown in a rebellion backed by the U.S. and its allies. Russia and Turkey in September agreed on a truce to head off an assault by the Syrian army on Idlib.
The Russian defense ministry accused the militants this month of breaking a cease-fire agreement by attacking an airbase twice with multiple rocket launchers.
At least 200,000 people have fled the fighting in southern Idlib and neighboring northern Hama, according to the United Nations. The situation remains volatile and renewed clashes threaten about 3 million civilians in the area, the UN said on May 21.
This creates a huge burden on “our very broad humanitarian effort that we and the rest of the international international community are making,” Jeffrey said. “We are watching this very closely.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Glen Carey in Washington at gcarey8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert
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