IRAN/MIKE POMPEO/MILITARY/RUSSIA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump warned Syria and its allies Russia and Iran on Monday [9-3-18] against attacking the last major rebel stronghold of Idlib province in the country’s northwest…Hours after the tweet, Russian planes struck parts of western Idlib, according to an activist media group and Syrian rescue group the White Helmets. The White Helmets said rescues were underway amid ‘intensive airstrikes.’ The President’s warning comes just days after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a similar warning to Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, saying an attack on Idlib was something that Syria and Russia ‘agreed not to permit,’ and that the US ‘sees this as an escalation of an already dangerous conflict.’ US officials have grown worried that an assault on Idlib could involve the use of chemical weapons if the rebels are able to slow regime advances.”
–Devan Cole and Tamara Qiblawi, “Trump warns Syria, Russia, Iran against attack on rebel stronghold,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, September 3, 2018 10:24 am