Russia says militants in Syria's Idlib province need liquidating
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday described militants in Syria's last big rebel-held enclave of Idlib as a "festering abscess" that needed to be liquidated.
Speaking after talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir in Moscow, Lavrov said militants were using civilians as a human shield.
Lavrov told reporters that there was a political understanding between Turkey and Russia on the need to distinguish between the Syrian opposition and people he described as terrorists in Idlib Province.
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Moscow, says it aims to recapture Idlib, which has become a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria, as well as jihadist forces.
