US warns of strong action if Syria violates ceasefire

"As a guarantor of de-escalation along with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take strong and appropriate measures in response to any ceasefire violations by the Assad regime," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement late on May 25, according toReuters.

Washington also expressed concern about reports of an imminent major military operation in southwestern Syria and warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to expand the conflict.

The US warning came after an attack on a de-escalation zone in northeastern Syria controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces a few weeks earlier.

Syrian government forces won a victory south of Damascus this week, forcing the Islamic State group to retreat to the southern province of Deraa, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on May 23. Syrian state media reported that government warplanes dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas in Deraa, urging fighters to lay down their arms.

Backed by Russian warplanes, Iranian ground forces and allied militias, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Assad government now enjoys its greatest advantage since the civil war began in Syria in 2011. But the Syrian government is also in a position where any military campaign risks sparking conflict with foreign powers.

Anti-Assad rebels still control two large areas of territory in northwest and southwest Syria. A US-backed alliance of Kurds and Arabs holds a quarter of Syria, east of the Euphrates River.

Huyen Le