The Russian Defense Ministry says it has not been surprised at ‘hypocrisy’ of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who had voiced ‘concern’ over what he said was “a large-scale offensive against Idlib’s innocent civilians” by Moscow and Damascus.

The US Department of State has never publicly supported Russia’s active fight against international terrorism in Syria, the official representative of the Russian ministry Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday. The State Department “preaches and voices its concern about the alleged suffering of civilians only when terrorists suffer a crushing defeat and Syrian citizens are finally liberated,” he said.

Konashenkov also cited Washington’s tacit support in recent weeks to the coordinated offensive from Idlib “of the forces described by Pompeo as ‘innocent civilians’ but who in fact had weapons and artillery belonging to the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda – the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group.”

As of the morning of 29 January, after defensive actions and counter-offensive of Syrian government troops near the border of the Idlib de-escalation zone, “destroyed or captured were eight ‘innocent’ tanks, more than 15 ‘innocent’ infantry combat vehicles, 49 ‘innocent’ wagons with large-caliber weapons, eight ‘innocent’ jihadi vehicles, four ‘innocent’ UAVs and dozens of artillery-type weapons of various calibers,” Konashenkov reported.

Source: RT