Alwaght- US envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley warned any attack on Syria’s Idlib will be “dealt with,”, as Washington seeks to stop Syrian army’s operation to liberate the northern province from foreign-backed terrorists.
Referring to US previous strikes on Syrian army’s positions, Haley told Fox News on Wednesday “Don’t test us again,” addressing the Syrian government and its allies Iran and Russia.
Idlib, located in the northwestern border with Turkey, was seized in May 2015 by an alliance of armed groups. The battleground equations changes have pave the ground for the Syrian Army to prepare for a huge offensive against the terrorists’ last safe haven in the war-torn country.
Washington and its allies have also warned Syria that they will act not just in case of chemical weapons being used, but against any attack on the province, the US envoy to the UN said.
“Any offensive on the civilian people in Idlib was going to be dealt with,” Haley told Fox News’ Bret Baier.
One part of Idlib is controlled by Ahrar al-Sham, loyal to Turkey and Qatar, while the other two are ruled by two various factions of Tahrir al-Sham alliance. To be more specific, Maarrat al-Nu’man, Ariha, Jabal Shahshabaw, Al-Habit, Banesh, Gorgnaz, Taftanaz, and the nearby villages are held by Ahrar al-Sham. Khan Sheikhun, part of Jabal al-Zawiyah, Kafr Nabl, Salgheen, Harem, Darkush, Jisr al-Sheghour, Sarmada, Idlib city, Sarmeen, and Maarrat Masreen are under Tahrir al-Sham's control. Small areas of the province, mainly in the south, are also held by ISIS terrorist organization
Western media, meanwhile, uncritically reported claims of rebels accusing the Syrians and Russians of “genocide” in Aleppo. The White Helmets, a self-proclaimed civil defense group operating only in rebel-held areas, has been the main source for claims of Syrian government atrocities.
Russia has accused the White Helmets of staging a chemical attack in Idlib in order to provoke a Western military intervention in Syria. The group has filmed at least nine videos intended to serve as evidence of claims that Damascus has used chlorine against civilians in Idlib, the Russian Reconciliation Center In Syria said on Wednesday.
The Turkish officials since mid-August launched a largely unsuccessful campaign of whitewashing the terrorist factions. Aiming to change the ground realities, they took pains to introduce the terrorists as moderate opposition, mainly affiliated with the Free Syrian Army which is widely recognized as the military wing of the opposition. The final aim is to strip the central government of legitimacy of the operation as an anti-terror one. According to reports, commanders of the Turkish army in northern Syrian met with Tahrir al-Sham and Turkistan Islamic Party and other terrorist parties on August 25 discussing a Ankara-proposed initiative to dissolve the groups and incorporate them in what Turkey calls moderate opposition such as Ahrar al-Sham with affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement with roots across West Asia and under Turkey and Qatar patronage.
