9/4/2018

IRAN/MIKE POMPEO/MILITARY/RUSSIA/STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday [9-3-18] warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to ‘recklessly attack’ Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed…The northern province and surrounding areas are the last major enclave held by insurgents fighting Assad, who has been backed by both Russian and Iranian forces in Syria’s seven-year-old civil war. They are home to some three million civilians. Trump has sought better relations with Russia since taking office in 2017 but the United States has been unable to rein in Moscow’s military and diplomatic support for Assad. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday [8-31-18] said Washington views any government assault on Idlib as an escalation of Syria’s war, and the State Department warned that Washington would respond to any chemical attack by Damascus.”

David Shepardson, “Trump warns Syria not to ‘recklessly attack’ Idlib province,” Reuters, September 4, 2018 3:38 pm