EVEN THE Eid al-Fitr holiday did not bring a respite for the almost 3m Syrians bottled up in Idlib. Warplanes buzzed overhead, as they have for more than a month, dropping ordnance on this scrubby province in north-western Syria, the last significant pocket of rebel-held territory. The offensive has already …

Although they are on the same side in the conflict in Syria, Russia and Iran each maintain their own priorities beyond propping up the Assad regime. Russia and Iran have expended massive resources to carve out their own long-term spheres of influence in Syria and throughout the broader region.

Hezbollah’s leader warned the United States against striking Iran, saying if it does “the entire region will burn.” US President Donald Trump “knows that when the region is on fire, a barrel of oil will be $200 or $300,” Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said …