HTS preparing provocation in Idlib: Russia MoD
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The Deputy Head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria says attacks by Al-Nusra are being prepared in Idlib to accuse the Syrian government forces and the Russian air force of attacking civilians and humanitarian facilities.
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Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria
The Jabhat Al-Nusra (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham) militants are planning a provocation in the Syrian province of Idlib and preparing staged filming of the outcomes of strikes in the areas of refugee camps, Major General Oleg Egorov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said on Saturday.
"According to information received by the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, militants of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group, together with the White Helmets pseudo-humanitarian organization, are planning to carry out provocations in the province of Idlib. The militants intend to conduct staged filming of the consequences of staged strikes in the areas of refugee camps in the settlements of Kafer Dian and Kafer Jales of the Idlib province," Egorov told a briefing.
The goal behind such provocations is to accuse the Syrian government forces and the Russian air force of attacking civilians and humanitarian facilities, according to Egorov.
He added that terrorists used a drone to drop two improvised explosive devices on locations belonging to government forces in Idlib, resulting in the injury of 7 Syrian soldiers.
Egorov stated on Friday that terrorists from Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic Party of Turkestan are planning to carry out attacks against the Russian Hmeimim Airbase in Syria using offensive and kamikaze drones.
Egorov added that the militants belonging to both terrorist groups have already prepared a large number of drones in workshops in the Khirbet Al-Joz region that are now ready to carry out the attack, noting that that the unmanned aerial vehicles are intended to be operated within a 70 km radius.
According to speculations regarding the plot of the militants, they intend to shower the base with drones in order to bypass Russian air defenses guarding the military facility that will be unable to engage with a large number of targets simultaneously.
Earlier in September, the Russian Reconciliation Centre for Syria stated that more than 45 militants of Al-Nusra Front terrorist group were killed in a Russian airstrike in Syria's Idlib province.
The Idlib de-escalation zone, which includes the Idlib governorate and parts of Aleppo, Hama, and Lattakia governorates, is the last stronghold of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham militants, whose backbone is Al-Nusra Front, as well as Turkey-backed militants.
