WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo today called for a permanent cease-fire in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, warning that a Russian-backed Syrian regime offensive that has driven a million civilians to flee toward the Turkish border could grow to imperil 3 million people. Aid groups also pleaded for a halt to the violence that has fueled the largest wave of displacement in the nine-year Syrian war as some former US diplomats and experts called for consideration of a Syria safe zone.

“The Assad regime’s brutal new aggression there, cynically backed by Moscow and Tehran, imperils now more than 3 million displaced persons, including, as we’ve tragically seen, young people,” Pompeo told journalists at the State Department today. “As we’ve said many times before, the regime will not be able to obtain military victory.”

“The answer is a permanent cease-fire and UN-led negotiations,” Pompeo said. “As President [Donald] Trump said on Tuesday [Feb. 18], we are working together with Turkey on seeing what we can do together.”

“This is the worst wave of displacement we’ve seen during the Syrian conflict,” Fabrizio Carboni, the International Committee of the Red Cross director for the Near and Middle East, said in a statement from the group today. “We urge the parties involved to allow civilians to move to safety, either within the areas they control or across the front lines.”