The US has warned rebels in southern Syria that they should not expect military intervention if government troops launch an assault against them, a rebel commander said yesterday.
Russian-backed government forces are preparing an offensive to retake Syria’s southern provinces of Daraa and Sweida, still mostly held by rebels who had been backed by the US for years.
The US warning to the heads of Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups, contained in an Arabic-language message seen by reporters, came as Syrian troops stepped up air strikes on the southern provinces.
Photo: AFP
“We must clarify our position: we understand that you must make a decision [to fight] based on your interests, the interests of your people and your faction as you see them,” the message read.
“You should not base your decision on an assumption or expectation of military intervention from our side,” it said.
The US did not immediately confirm the letter’s contents.
Syrian regime forces on Saturday made their first gains on the ground against rebel fighters in Daraa Province after several days of intensified airstrikes, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
It also reported that Russia late on Saturday carried out its first air strike on Daraa since brokering a truce there last year.
That “de-escalation” deal for southwest Syria was agreed with the US and Jordan and initially brought some respite to the area, though violations continued.
Those same powers are in talks now to reach a negotiated settlement for the south that could head off a bloody regime assault.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for “an immediate end to the current military escalation” while US Ambassador to the UN Nikky Haley urged Moscow to pressure its Syria to respect the ceasefire.
“We in the US government understand the difficult circumstances you are now facing, and we are still advising the Russians and the Syrian regime not to conduct any military action that will violate the de-escalation zone in southwest Syria,” the US message to rebels said.
The opposition commander who received it said it was not in response to a request for help by anti-regime factions.
“We knew anyway that they weren’t going to intervene, so we weren’t disappointed,” he said. “The letter’s contents mean that America will not be able to help the south — in other words, they are saying ‘you’re on your own.’”
Throwing in Russia’s full military weight in the campaign to regain southern Syria will weaken the ability of mainstream rebel groups to withstand relentless bombing on civilian areas that forced their compatriots in other areas to submit to surrender deals.
Jordan said it was engaged in intensive diplomacy with Washington and Moscow to preserve the zone and prevent a wider confrontation.
Additional reporting by Reuters
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion