U.S. has seen proof Syria is preparing chemical weapons in Idlib, envoy says

There is "lots of evidence"that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian governmentforces in Idlib in northwest Syria, the new U.S. adviser forSyria said on Thursday, warningof the risks of anoffensive on the country's last big rebel enclave.

"I am very sure that we have very, very good grounds to bemaking these warnings," said Jim Jeffrey, who was named on Aug.17 as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's special adviser on Syriaoverseeing talks on a political transition in that country.

"Any offensive is to us objectionable as a recklessescalation," Jeffrey told a few reporters in his first interview on the situation in Syria since his appointment. "There is lotsof evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared."

The White House has warned that the United States and itsallies would respond "swiftly and vigorously" if government forces used chemical weapons in the widely expected offensive.

Jeffrey said an attack by Russian and Syrian forces, and theuse of chemical weapons, would force huge refugee flows intosoutheastern Turkey or areas in Syria under Turkish control.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has massed his army andallied forces on the front lines in the northwest, and Russianplanes have joined his bombardment of rebels there, in a preludeto a possible assault.

Leaders fail to agree on ceasefire

The presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia on Friday failed to agree on a ceasefire that would forestall a Syrian government offensive in rebel-held Idlib.

Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Iran's Hassan Rouhanimeeting in Tehran for a summit of key foreign players in Syria's war agreed in a final statement that there could be no military solution to the conflict and it could only end through a negotiated political process.

But as Syrian government and Russian warplanes mounted air strikes in Idlib on Friday morning in a possible prelude to a full-scale offensive, Putin and Rouhani pushed back against Erdogan's call for a truce.

The Turkish leader said he feared a massacre and Turkey could not accommodate any more refugees flooding over its border.

Putin said a ceasefire would be pointless as it would not involve Islamist militant groups it deems terrorists. Rouhani said Syria must regain control over all its territory.

In the final statement, the three agreed on the need to eliminate the Islamic State, the Nusra Front, and other groups linked to extremist groupsand designated as terrorists. But there were were other armed opposition groups that could join any ceasefire agreement, they said.

The communiqu also called on the United Nations and the international community to step up humanitarian aid to Syria and help in restoring basic infrastructure assets.

Efforts must be made to protect and to create conditions for the safe return of refugees, it added.

Diplomatic initiative

As sides close in on the remaining jihadist forces operatingin Syria, Jeffrey said it was time for a "major diplomatic initiative" to end the seven-year conflict.There was a "a new commitment" by the administration toremain in Syria until Islamic State militants were defeated,while ensuring Iran left the country, he added.

While U.S. President Donald Trump had signalled that he wanted American forces out of Syria, in April he agreed to keep troops there a little longer.

Trump will chair a UNSecurity Council meeting on Iranduring an annual gathering of world leaders in New York later this month. The meeting will focus on Iran's nuclear program andits meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen.

France has invited the United States, Jordan, Egypt, SaudiArabia, Germany and Britain for talks on the sidelines of the UNmeeting to discuss Syria, Jeffrey said.

He said Assad "has no future as a ruler" in Syria, but itwas not up to Washington to get rid of him and it would workwith Moscow on a political transition.

"Right now [the Syrian government]is a cadaver sitting inrubble with just half the territory of Syria under regime control on a good day," Jeffrey said.