MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/: Turkey's support for militants who tried to attack positions of Syrian government forces in Idlib represents a violation of the agreements between Moscow and Ankara, Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to a question about terrorists' attacks at positions of the Syrian government forces in Idlib. Zakharova's response was published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
"On February 20, the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria reported several mass attacks with the use of a large amount of armored vehicles at the positions of the Syrian army in the Idlib de-escalation zone carried out by terrorist units," Zakharova said. "At the same time, the actions of militants were supported by artillery fire by the Turkish forces, which allowed terrorists to breach Syrian army's defenses," she added.
She noted that to prevent terrorists from entering the territory controlled by Syrian government forces, Russian Aerospace Forces delivered a strike at terrorists, which allowed Syrian government forces to repell the attacks.
"We express serious concern over such support for militants by Turkish forces," Zakharova said. "This incident represents a violation of Russian-Turkish agreement on separating the armed opposition and terrorists and establishing a demilitarized zone, and risks to provoke further escalation of the conflict in this part of the Syrian territory," she added.
