"The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (HTS), linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, which uses 'small and heavy arms, improvised explosive devices, and chemical weapons', operates in that province [Idlib]. This is the first official recognition by the [US] State Department not simply of the presence, but, I emphasize, the use of chemical weapons by Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists in that part of Syria to commit terrorist attacks, about which we repeatedly warned," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Konashenkov said.
Igor Konashenkov also recalled that in Idlib province, "only one case of the use of chemical weapons is known — in Khan-Sheikhun."
READ MORE: Russia: US Has Not Provided Proof of Assad's Guilt in Syrian Chemical Attacks
"However, the US accused government troops of [conducting] this chemical attack. And those who [actually] organized it, they called a "moderate opposition," Konashenkov said.
On April 4, the Syrian opposition reported that 80 had been killed in a chemical weapons attack in the city of Khan-Sheikhun in Idlib province, and 200 were wounded. They accused Syrian government troops of conducting this attack, who in response strongly rejected the accusations and blamed the militants.
The war in Syria started in 2011. Four years later, in September 2015, Russia launched a military operation to assist the country's government, providing air support to Syrian forces in fighting Daesh and other terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, the US-led coalition conducts air strikes as well as ground and rocket artillery fire against the terrorist group Daesh (ISIS) in Syria, although this activity hasn't been sanctioned by the government of President Bashar Assad or the UN Security Council.
