俄罗斯外交部长支持对叛军控制的叙利亚伊德利卜地区的持续进攻，无视美国国务卿麦克·庞贝关于结束袭击和缓解冲突的呼吁人道主义危机在那里发展。
谢尔盖拉夫罗夫星期二说，莫斯科完全支持巴沙尔阿萨德总统对叙利亚西北部省份的进攻，该省是该国唯一仍被反对大马士革政权的力量控制的主要地区。
据俄罗斯塔斯社报道，拉夫罗夫称，叙利亚武装部队正对“根深蒂固的伊德利布激进分子”做出回应，这些激进分子一再违反本月早些时候达成的俄土停火协议。
他表示，武装分子正在袭击平民目标和叙利亚军事阵地，并对Khmeimim空军基地发动了不成功的无人机袭击，该基地已成为俄罗斯干预叙利亚毁灭性内战的中心。
拉夫罗夫继续说:“自然，仅在本月就有数十人丧生，数百名叙利亚军人和平民受伤的这类武装挑衅不能不作出回应。”。“我们支持叙利亚军队采取行动，镇压伊德利卜地区这些挑衅的根源。”
阿萨德目前对伊德利卜的进攻始于去年12月，先是空袭和炮击，接着是步兵和装甲部队的入侵。
据报道，到目前为止，他的部队已经占领了大约123平方英里领土上的46个定居点自由欧洲电台/自由电台。
伊德利卜在很大程度上由各种圣战派别控制，其中Hayat Tahrir al-Sham最为强大。伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国领导人阿布·贝克尔·巴格达迪在被追捕之前藏在靠近土耳其边境的伊德利卜去年被美国特种部队杀害。
叙利亚军队——以及他们的俄罗斯和伊朗支持者——被指控在伊德利布犯有战争罪，因为阿萨德正在追求他所控制的统一叙利亚的目标。据报道，叙利亚和俄罗斯的战机和大炮轰击杀害了儿童，袭击了医务人员，并轰炸了主要道路上的民用车辆。
据联合国称，在过去的两个月里，数十万人被认为逃离了家园，以躲避日益恶化的暴力。
在周一发表的一份声明中，庞贝指责阿萨德的部队及其盟友“进行了狂轰滥炸和地面攻击，致使数千平民被困在轰炸中”
庞贝强调了这一策略在伊德利卜南部城市马拉特努曼的应用，该市现已被政权军队占领。
国务卿说，按照联合国的要求，“俄罗斯、伊朗政权、真主党和阿萨德政权的破坏稳定行动直接阻碍了叙利亚北部停火的实现”。
庞贝说，美国“谴责这些针对叙利亚西北部人民的无理袭击”，并呼吁“人道主义组织立即停火并全面进入受影响地区，以减轻逃离持续轰炸的数十万人的痛苦。”
2020年1月27日，在叙利亚西北部伊德利布省马雷特努曼郊区的卡夫尔鲁马镇，据报道遭到叙利亚政权部队轰炸后，浓烟滚滚。
RUSSIA IGNORES AMERICAN DEMAND TO STOP 'UNJUSTIFIABLE ATTACKS' IN SYRIA'S IDLIB
Russia's foreign minister backed the ongoing offensive against the rebel-held Idlib region of Syria, defying calls from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to end the attack and mitigate the humanitarian crisis developing there.
Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow is fully behind President Bashar al-Assad's offensive into the north-western province of Syria, which is the only major part of the country still held by forces opposing the regime in Damascus.
Lavrov claimed the Syrian armed forces were responding to "radicals entrenched in Idlib" that had repeatedly violated a Russian-Turkish ceasefire agreed earlier this month, Russia's Tass state news agency reported.
He said militants were attacking civilian targets and Syrian military positions, and launching unsuccessful drone attacks against the Khmeimim Air Base, which has become the hub for Russia's intervention in Syria's ruinous civil war.
"Naturally, these sorts of armed provocations, which took dozens of lives and injured hundreds of Syrian servicemen and civilians in this month alone, cannot be left without a response," Lavrov continued. "We support the actions of the Syrian army to quash the sources of these provocations in the Idlib zone."
Assad's current offensive into Idlib began in December, with waves of air and artillery strikes followed by infantry and armored incursions.
His troops have thus far captured 46 settlements across around 123 square miles of territory, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Idlib is largely controlled by a variety of jihadist factions, with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham the most powerful. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding in Idlib close to the Turkish border before being tracked down and killed by American special forces last year.
Syrian forces—and their Russian and Iranian backers—have been accused of war crimes in Idlib as Assad pursues his goal of a reunified Syria under his control. Syrian and Russian warplanes and artillery barrages have reportedly killed children, targeted medical personnel, and bombed civilian vehicles on major roads.
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have fled their homes to escape the worsening violence over the past two months, according to the United Nations.
In a statement issued Monday, Pompeo accused Assad's forces and their allies of "conducting indiscriminate aerial bombardment and ground attacks that have trapped thousands of civilians under bombardment."
Pompeo highlighted this strategy being used in the city Maarat al-Numan in southern Idlib, which regime forces now claim to have captured.
The secretary of state said the "destabilizing actions of Russia, the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime are directly preventing the establishment of a ceasefire in northern Syria" as requested by the United Nations.
The U.S., Pompeo said, "condemns these unjustifiable attacks against the people of northwest Syria" and calls for "an immediate cease-fire and full access to the affected areas by humanitarian organizations to alleviate the suffering of the hundreds of thousands that have fled the incessant bombing."
Smoke billows following reported bombardment by Syrian regime forces on the town of Kafr Ruma on the outskirts of Maaret al-Numan, in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, on January 27, 2020.
