MOSCOW. Sept 7 (Interfax) - Terrorists in Idlib, Syria, are hampering civilian evacuation via the established escape routes, the militants will be fully eliminated, the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"Terrorists are hampering civilian evacuation of the Idlib zone through the opened humanitarian corridors and leading away residents of the villages on the line of contact with government forces deep into the province with a view to using these innocents as human shield," Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow on Friday.
Fighters from Al-Nusra (a terror group, banned in Russia) in Idlib continue destroying infrastructure, blowing up bridges and roads, thus hoping to be ready to repel a Syrian army attack they are expecting and fearing," Zakharova said.
In Idlib, there have been "arrests of civil activists who are calling for non-terrorist armed opposition forces to enter into local truce with Syrian legitimate authorities," she said.
"We are calling on those of our international partners, who publicly have shown utmost concern for the possibility of a humanitarian crisis erupting in Idlib, to take into account the aforesaid facts and draw a conclusion about who really is preparing this crisis," the spokeswoman said.
"In the meantime, we would like to reaffirm our principled position that there needs to be a full and final elimination of terrorists across all of Syria, and I want to stress particularly that Russia is doing everything in its power to minimize human casualties for the civilian population," Zakharova said.