US seen backing away from Syria de-escalation enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration appears to be walking away from a pledge to enforce an arrangement to stabilize southwestern Syria as the Syrian military presses ahead with an offensive in the rebel-held area despite repeated U.S. warnings.
The offensive violates an agreement among the U.S., Russia and neighbouring Jordan, whose monarch met with President Donald Trump on Monday. The nearly year-old agreement is intended to preserve the status quo in Syria’s southwest, but recent public and private statements suggest the U.S. commitment is slipping.
Although the administration has been consistent in criticizing Russia for backing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces’ advance into the “de-escalation zone” in the province of Daraa, over the past two weeks U.S. officials in Washington and in the Middle East have steadily walked back on warnings of American retaliation for violations.
And as the situation became more critical Monday, threatening an influx of refugees fleeing the fighting into Jordan, Amman announced it would not take in the newly displaced.