The deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria Rear Adm. Vadim Kulit said on Wednesday that a Syrian soldier lost his life due to sniper fire from militants within Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone.

He added that three other soldiers sustained injuries after a terrorist drone dropped a grenade.

"In the... Idlib province, as a result of sniper fire from illegal armed groups against the positions of the Syrian government forces, one Syrian soldier was killed. As a result of the dropping and detonation of a grenade from an unmanned aerial vehicle launched by terrorists from the area of the Fatterah settlement of Idlib province, three Syrian soldiers were injured," Kulit told a briefing.

Earlier this month, Kulit said that militants in Syria's Idlib are planning a provocation using toxic substances to discredit Russian forces in Syria, and they have already delivered chlorine to the town of Arihah.

Kulit noted that this provocation was aimed at discrediting the Russian armed forces in Syria.

He also mentioned that the pseudo-humanitarian organization White Helmets, in coordination with the Jabhat al-Nusra group, had transported six containers of chlorine to the Arihah area.

The objective of the terrorists was to simulate the use of dangerous chemicals following Russian military operations targeting their strongholds.

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The Syrian Arab Army units likewise reported earlier this month that it targeted the headquarters of armed militias across Idlib's countryside in northern Syria. 

As a result of the heavy artillery targeting the militias, a number were killed and others were wounded. Simultaneously, the Syrian army announced they had shot down two drones belonging to armed groups in northern Aleppo.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday in a statement published via its website that "units of the Syrian army targeted terrorist headquarters in the Idlib countryside, and shot down two drones in the northern countryside of Aleppo."

The ministry's statement added that, as part of the response to the repeated attacks by the armed groups targeting safe villages and towns alongside Syrian Arab Army military posts across Hama and Idlib, "units of the Syrian army carried out concentrated attacks on terrorist headquarters, their fortifications, and their artillery positions."

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