Russian Defense Ministry : Jabhat al-Nusra Attack on North Hama City Breaches Astana Agreement

MOSCOW – General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces stressed that recent Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist attack on the Syrian military sites north Hama province breaches the de-escalation zone agreement of Astana, SANA reported.

In a statement published on Russia Today website, the Russian General Staff indicated that the US intelligence agency stood behind the terrorist attack which took place in the de-escalation zone established in Idleb province with the aim of halting the Syrian army’s victories in the eastern part of Deir Ezzor.

 The statement noted that the attack mainly aims at expelling the Russian military police from its post located to observe the implementation of the de-escalation zone agreement.

In the same context, Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Lt.Gen. Sergei Rudskoy noted that Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists and other terrorist factions which do not want to implement the ceasefire agreement have launched the sudden attack despite the agreements signed on September 15th in Astana.

He said that the wide-scale terrorist attack started on Tuesday morning using armoured tanks and vehicles and targeted the Syrian military forces located in north and northeast Hama city included in the de-escalation zone established in Idleb province.

Rudskoy added that 850 terrorists were killed during a military operation inside the de-escalation zone, pointing out that 3 Russian soldiers were injured in the attack.