German Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, say it envisage the Kremelin influence with the Syrian government to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the rebel-held northern region of Idlib.
Merkel has raised the issue in recent days with U.S. President, Donald Trump and Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and the German government is watching developments in the region with growing concern.
“We expect Russia to prevent the Syrian government from escalating the situation and thereby prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” Merkel’s spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer, told a regular government news conference in Berlin.
She stated that it was imperative that humanitarian organizations were given unfettered access to the affected civilian population.
Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid Al-Moualem, said on Thursday that government forces would “go all the way” in a planned offensive in Idlib, the last major insurgent bastion in Syria, and that Damascus’s main targets were Islamist al-Nusra militants.
But, he said Syria would not use chemical weapons in any offensive and that it did not have such arsenal.
“Syria would try to avoid civilian deaths,” Al-Moualem added.
Meanwhile, has stated that it would begin a major naval exercise in the Mediterranean on Saturday, a move that appeared to be aimed at deterring Western forces from carrying out strikes on Syrian government forces.
The UN has called on Russia, Iran and Turkey to delay a battle that could affect millions of civilians, calling for humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.
“Putin will attend a three-way summit in Tehran on Sept. 7 with the leaders of Turkey and Iran,” his spokesman said.