WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new Syria diplomatic team is ramping up diplomatic efforts as it tries to bolster Turkish and European efforts to avert a Russia-backed Syrian military operation to retake the northwest Syrian province of Idlib.
Jim Jeffrey, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s new envoy for Syria engagement, and special envoy for Syria Joel Rayburn met today in Geneva with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and the so-called "small group" of allied nations generally opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. Officials from Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom were also due to attend, the UN said.
