{"id":15293,"date":"2018-09-09T19:26:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T19:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/09\/us-lacks-leverage-as-assault-on-syrian-enclave-looms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:21:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:21:53","slug":"us-lacks-leverage-as-assault-on-syrian-enclave-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/09\/us-lacks-leverage-as-assault-on-syrian-enclave-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"US lacks leverage as assault on Syrian enclave looms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has little leverage to stop Russia, Iran and Syria pressing ahead with a massive military assault against Syria\u2019s northwest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/05\/russia-launches-airstrikes-in-syrias-rebel-held-idlib\/\" target=_blank>Idlib province<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/04\/white-house-warns-syria-against-chemical-weapons-use\/\" target=_blank>threatened military action<\/a> in case of a chemical weapons attack but its mixed messaging on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/07\/us-plays-down-talk-of-imminent-pullout-of-forces-from-syria\/\" target=_blank>retaining a U.S. presence in Syria<\/a> and a cut in aid has diminished its already limited influence over the seven-year conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So the administration, which has criticized former President Barack Obama for his inaction on Syria after the war started in 2011, risks appearing powerless to prevent the three nations&#8217; plan to retake Syria&#8217;s last rebel-held area. It&#8217;s an operation that many warn will cause major bloodshed among a vulnerable population of 3 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2018\/09\/08\/pentagon-white-house-consider-military-strike-options-on-syria\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"196\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f15-syria.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Pentagon, White House consider military strike options on Syria<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon is preparing military options for President Donald Trump to respond if the Syrian government carries through its threat to use chemical weapons against Idlib.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And on Saturday, Syrian government and Russian warplanes targeted the province&#8217;s southern edge in what activists described as the most intense airstrikes in weeks. More than 60 air raids killed at least four civilians in southern Idlib, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and rescue workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the new U.S. special envoy for Syria said this week that America will stay in Syria until the complete eradication of the Islamic State group, there\u2019s little assurance that President Donald Trump won\u2019t again seek <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/20\/us-anti-isis-office-gets-reprieve-as-syria-pullout-accelerates\/\" target=\"_blank\">the withdrawal of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops<\/a> in the country. And in a sign of the administration\u2019s shrinking commitment to Syria, it has pulled more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/08\/17\/us-ends-syria-stabilization-funding-cites-more-allied-cash\/\" target=\"_blank\">$200 million in stabilization funding<\/a> for liberated areas, telling other nations they should step up to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A summit in Tehran on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was seen as a chance for a diplomatic solution before a full-scale assault on Idlib. The three nations are all tacitly allied against ISIS and in support of a unified, stable Syria, but have differing views of how to achieve those ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After Friday&#8217;s talks, the U.N. envoy for Syria told the U.N. Security Council there were indications that the three leaders intend to continue talking to avoid a catastrophe. But above all, the summit highlighted the stark differences among these allies of convenience, with Putin and Rouhani opposing Erdogan&#8217;s call for a cease-fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As they discussed the fate of Idlib, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/08\/24\/us-urges-enduring-defeat-of-isis-offers-force-if-necessary\/\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley<\/a> was talking tough in New York, telling the Security Council that the United States would consider any assault on the province as a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d of the conflict that has already claimed more than 400,000 lives and forced more than 5 million Syrians to flee the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;If (Syrian President Bashar) Assad, Russia, and Iran continue, the consequences will be dire,&#8221; said Haley, who was chairing the council meeting. &#8220;The Assad regime must halt its offensive &#8230; Russia and Iran, as countries with influence over the regime, must stop this catastrophe. It is in their power to do so.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/08\/31\/the-looming-final-battle-for-syrias-rebels-a-look-at-whats-ahead\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/idlib-fighting.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The looming final battle for Syria\u2019s rebels: A look at what\u2019s ahead<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Why this showdown is seen as a catastrophe in the making.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those remarks capped a week of rising U.S. rhetoric opposing the Idlib operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/04\/kremlin-criticizes-trumps-warnings-on-syria\/\" target=_blank>Trump tweeted<\/a>: \u201cPresident Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don\u2019t let that happen!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A day later, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expanded on the tweet, and renewed calls for the conflict to be resolved through the U.N.-led Geneva Process, which has been stalled for years. And on Thursday, the man Pompeo chose to be his point-man on getting the Geneva process back on track, veteran diplomat James Jeffrey, reiterated Trump&#8217;s message, saying the U.S. would use all the &#8220;tools&#8221; it has to respond to a chemical attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another &#8220;tool&#8221; in the U.S. arsenal is economic pressure. The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions on nine people and companies for assisting weapons or fuel transfers to the Assad regime on Thursday. But sanctions have been ineffectual since they first began to be applied during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even American airstrikes launched against the Assad government have had limited impact in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Twice before the U.S. has resorted to missile strikes in response to chemical weapons attacks, only to see them used again. As Syrian forces prepare for the assault on Idlib, U.S. and UN officials again see signs that those internationally prescribed weapons are being readied for the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s lots of evidence that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/08\/27\/is-another-syria-chemical-attack-imminent-russia-hints-one-is-coming\/\" target=_blank>chemical weapons are being prepared<\/a>,\u201d Jeffrey told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials and analysts will be watching Idlib closely over the next week ahead of U.N.-led talks on Syria in Geneva on Sept. 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The Trump administration is really at a Hail Mary moment,&#8221; said Nicholas Heras, a Syria analyst and fellow at the Center for New American Security. Idlib is the last opportunity for the U.S. to increase leverage in Syria, he said, and if the province falls before the Geneva talks, Trump administration efforts to re-engage with peace talks will likely fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heras warned that the Trump team is late to formulate a coherent Syria policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s like trying to save the house as it\u2019s burning down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has little leverage to stop Russia, Iran and Syria pressing ahead with a massive military assault against Syria\u2019s northwest Idlib province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":34507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,93,12,25,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[428,1185],"class_list":["post-15293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"AGZYRMNZ3ZBVTE2KBVUSATMGMQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2018\/09\/09\/us-lacks-leverage-as-assault-on-syrian-enclave-looms\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US lacks leverage as assault on Syrian enclave looms - Marine Corps Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has little leverage to stop Russia, Iran and Syria pressing ahead with a massive military assault against Syria\u2019s northwest Idlib province.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US lacks leverage as assault on Syrian enclave looms\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite dire U.S. warnings and fears of a humanitarian disaster, the Trump administration has 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