“We have information that members of illegal armed groups are preparing to stage a provocation in order to accuse Syrian government forces of attacking settlements in the Idlib de-escalation zone,” Rear. Adm. Vyacheslav Sytnik told a news briefing, Sputnik reported.

The Syrian forces responded to the Israeli attacks in the skies over the capital, Damascus, for several hours early Monday, the Syrian official news agency SANA reported.

No sooner had an agreement been reached between the Syrian regime and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to lift the mutual sieges imposed in northeast Syria that accusations were traded about violations of the Russian-sponsored deal.