US warns Syrian forces against use of chemical weapons in Idlib fight

Bloomberg

The Pentagon reiterated promises to respond to any use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces as the Assad regime’s offensive against militants in a key northwestern province threatens to cause another humanitarian crisis in the country’s eight-year civil war.
The US and its allies “will respond quickly and appropriately,” Michael Mulroy, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said in a statement.
“Assad has arguably done more than any other actor to destabilise the region by murdering his own people” and forcing millions to flee the country, he added.
The Trump administration warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year that the US would act if he used chemical weapons in Idlib, the last major rebel holdout in the civil war. In April 2017, and again a year later, President Donald Trump ordered limited airstrikes on Syrian targets as punishment for what the US said was the use of chemical weapons.
Trump warned about “butchery” by Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces in Idlib.
Yet the president has also sought to draw down US forces in the country after campaigning on promises to get America out of intractable conflicts.
The Syrian military started its latest assault in Idlib in April, with Russian air support. The Russian defense ministry accused militants in the province last month of breaking a ceasefire agreement by attacking an airbase twice with multiple rocket launchers.
At least 200,000 people have fled the fighting in southern Idlib and neighbouring 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.