"Al-Nusra*… [is] striving to keep that territory under their control. For this reason, the freezing of the situation is not acceptable," Nebenzya told the Security Council.
Our Western partners do not want to accept the fall of the last terrorist enclave in Syria, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya stated.
Some 50,000 terrorists operate in the Syrian province of Idlib, the Russian Ambassador to the UN noted.
"In the Idlib de-escalation zone there are 40 to 45 armed groups, the overall number of which includes up to 50,000 people," Nebenzya said.
"Terrorists in Idlib are acting in an aggressive way: they are taking hostage millions of civilians, they are staging attacks against neighboring territories. The ceasefire regime is being violated dozens of times every day," Nebenzya said.
The Syrian government earlier pledged to drive the remaining terrorists out of Idlib and has begun taking steps toward full-scale military operations in the territory.
READ MORE: Putin: Most Important Now is To Kick Terrorists Out of Syria's Idlib
According to Moscow, the terrorist enclave in Idlib is destabilizing the situation in Syria and threatens the work toward a political settlement of the conflict.
Russian officials have repeatedly warned that terrorists have been planning a staged chemical weapons attack in Idlib in order to provoke Western countries to retaliate against the Syrian government.
*al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra, known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham is a terrorist group banned in Russia
