Syria's de-escalation zone in Idlib attacked 9 times over 24 hours
The Russian reconciliation center for Syria reveals that Jabhat Al-Nusra has shelled Idlib's de-escalation zone nine times over the past day.
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Turkish soldiers seen during a patrol in the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria on 20 February 2020 (Anadolu Agency)
The Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorist organization shelled the de-escalation zone of the Syrian city of Idlib nine times over the past 24 hours, Major General Oleg Yegorov, the deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Reconciliation Center in Syria told a press briefing.
"Nine shelling attacks from the positions of the Jabhat Al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day," Maj. Gen. Yegorov said.
"Six attacks were recorded in Idlib province, three in Latakia," he said.
Maj. Gen. Yegorov said one Syrian soldier was wounded in terrorist shelling in Latakia, and another one was wounded in Idlib.
Egorov had warned earlier in the month that terrorists from Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic Party of Turkestan are planning to carry out attacks against the Russian Hmeimim Airbase in Syria using offensive and kamikaze drones.
"The militants of the terrorist groups Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic Party of Turkestan are preparing an attack on the Hmeimim Russian Airbase in Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles in strike equipment and kamikaze drones," said the Major General.
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 the Jabhat Al-Nusra 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 Jabhat Al-Nusra, as well as Turkey-backed militants.
