The presidents of Iran and Russia have backed a military offensive in Syria's rebel-held Idlib. Source: AAP
Russia and Iran have backed a military operation to recapture the final rebel-held province of Syria, while Turkey's president has begged for a ceasefire.
The presidents of Iran and Russia have backed a military offensive to retake the last rebel-held area of Syria, as Turkey's president pled for a ceasefire in perhaps the final chance to avoid what activists warn will be a humanitarian disaster.
A trilateral summit in Tehran between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been viewed as a chance for a diplomatic solution before unleashing a full-scale assault on Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Instead, Friday's summit further highlighted the stark differences between allies of convenience in Syria's seven-year-old war, the topic of a summit that did not see embattled President Bashar Assad directly represented.
Putin pushed for a muscular military response to crush rebel fighters in Idlib, calling at one point for the "total annihilation of terrorists in Syria."
Rouhani focused on reconstruction and the need for Syria's displaced to return home, while also calling for the US to immediately withdraw.
"The fires of war and bloodshed in Syria are reaching their end," Rouhani said, adding that terrorism must "be uprooted in Syria, particularly in Idlib."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhan (C), Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaking after their meeting in Iran.
AAP
Erdogan may have been the leader with the most to lose ahead of the offensive.
Turkey, which backed opposition forces against Assad, fears a flood of refugees fleeing a military offensive and the destabilisation of areas it now holds in Syria.
"Idlib isn't just important for Syria's future, it is of importance for our national security and for the future of the region," Erdogan said.
"Any attack on Idlib would result in a catastrophe. Any fight against terrorists requires methods based on time and patience."
"We don't want Idlib to turn into a bloodbath," he added.
Northwestern Idlib province and surrounding areas are home to about 3 million people - nearly half of them civilians displaced from other parts of Syria.
That also includes an estimated 10,000 hardcore fighters, including al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Responding to Erdogan's proposal for a cease-fire in Idlib, Putin said "a cease-fire would be good" but indicated that Moscow does not believe it will hold.
There was no immediate reaction from fighters in Idlib.
Early on Friday, a series of airstrikes struck villages in southwest Idlib, targeting insurgent posts and killing a fighter, said the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman.
Abdurrahman said suspected Russian warplanes carried out the attack.
America's ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, has warned any military offensive in Idlib "would be a reckless escalation."
The UN envoy for Syria says any proposal to avoid Idlib becoming "the biggest humanitarian tragedy at the end of the most horrible recent conflict in our memory" must be given a chance.
Staffan De Mistura also called for "protected voluntary evacuation routes" for civilians if they want to leave Idlib.
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