The U.N. special envoy for Syria warned Friday that all the ingredients exist for what he called a "perfect storm" of a humanitarian catastrophe if the Syrian government backed by Russia carries out a large-scale military offensive on the northwestern province of Idlib.
Staffan de Mistura told U.N. Security Council members via video conference that any attack on Idlib would result in a massive loss of civilian lives.
U.S. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said that Russia and Iran should stop the Assad regime from assaulting Idlib.
"The Assad regime must halt its offensive. Russia and Iran, as countries with influence over the regime, must stop this catastrophe. It is in their power to do so."
Haley's remarks came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan repeated his warning that a "bloodbath" would result from any Syrian government military offensive in Idlib.
Erdoğan made the statement at a trilateral summit involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran.
Putin said that a cease-fire would be pointless as it would not involve Islamist militant groups that Russia deems are terrorists. Rouhani said that Syria must control all of its territory.
Syrian forces have been massing around Idlib backed by Russian air power and naval might.
Nearly three million people live in the enclave. About half of them have displaced from other parts of Syria and moved to Idlib along with the civilians the United Nations estimates that some 15,000 terrorist-affiliated fighters are in Idlib.
Friday's Tehran summit was touted as the last chance to avoid a looming military operation.
This is VOA news.
Amateur broadcast video on Arab news channels Friday showed protesters in Basra, Iraq, torching the Iranian consulate and chanting anti-Iran slogans. The Iraqi government declared a curfew one day before the parliament is due to meet to discuss the situation in the southern port city. Protesters say Iran is interfering in Iraqi politics and blame Tehran for the poor public services in the oil-rich city.
The Iraqi parliament is due to meet Saturday to discuss the violence and how to address the demands of protesters.
Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has demanded that top government officials attend a parliament session "no later than Sunday," or face what he called "a popular earthquake."
Former U.S. President Barack Obama entered the midterm election fight Friday, urging students at the University of Illinois to get out and vote because, in his words, "our democracy depends on it."
Obama has been reluctant to speak about the current state of American politics and to criticize his successor, Donald Trump.
On Friday, however, Obama told the students they cannot afford to sit on the sidelines.
"I'm here to tell you that you should still be concerned with our current course and should still want to see a restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness in our government."
At a fundraiser in North Dakota, President Trump mocked Obama's speech, saying he fell asleep during the former president's remarks.
Obama's appearance at the central Illinois university campus was the first of several campaign events in the coming weeks at which he will [ur...] urge, that is, Democratic voters to cast ballots in November to take control of Congress from the Republicans
The U.S. economy added a higher than expected 201,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate held at record lows.
AP's Ben Thomas reports.
The Labor Department reports employers added 201,000 jobs in August, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.9 percent.
PNC Financial Services chief economist Gus Faucher says wage games are also starting to accelerate, up 2.9 percent over the same time last year.
"This is good news for workers as businesses are being forced to raise pay because of the tight job market. And I would expect we will see further solid games in wages throughout 2018 into 2019."
The numbers are being seen as a sign of confidence in the economy though Faucher notes an escalation of trade conflicts could dim the picture.
Ben Thomas, Washington.
And U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to impose another $267 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese imports, which would virtually cover all the goods China imports to the United States.
For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd, VOA news.
