Russian military blasts Pompeo’s ‘hypocritical concern’ over ‘attack on Idlib’s innocent civilians’

The Russian Defense Ministry says it is not surprised by the ‘hypocrisy’ of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo who 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 Wednesday morning, after defensive and counter-offensive actions near the border of the Idlib de-escalation zone, Syrian government troops had destroyed or captured eight tanks, more than 15 infantry combat vehicles, 49 wagons with large-caliber weapons, eight terrorist vehicles, four UAVs and dozens of artillery-type weapons of various calibers, Konashenkov reported.