The situation in the Syrian province of Idlib will be among the key topics at talks between Iranian, Turkish and Russian presidents in Tehran later this week, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media on September 4.
“The situation in Idlib continues to be a subject of particular concern to Moscow, Damascus, Ankara, and Tehran. The fact is that there is a hotbed of terrorism there, a fairly large group of terrorists has settled there. Of course, this leads to general destabilization. This undermines attempts to re-introduce political and diplomatic regulation,” Peskov said.
The Kremlin spokesman added that the situation has to be solved and the terrorists have to be defeated.
“It’s undoubtedly necessary to deal with this problem [of terrorists in Idlib]. We know that the Syrian Armed Forces are preparing to solve this problem,” Peskov noted.
He further added that unmanned aerial vehicle, which militants launch from the Idlib de-escalation zone pose a threat to Russia’s bases in Syria.
“This represents a significant threat to our temporary bases, and the Russian president has spoken about this. It is from [Idlib] that various unmanned aerial vehicles are being sent which pose a threat to our temporary bases,” he said.
Meanwhile, reports appear that the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces are pounding militant positions in western and southern Idlib. Some sources describe these strikes as a first step of the preparations for the upcoming offensive of the Syrian Army on militant positions there.
