MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. US Department of State’s policies are the chief obstruction to restoring peaceful life in Syria, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the media on Wednesday.

"The Department of State is the root cause of the main problems hindering the Syrians’ return to peaceful life. It stops at nothing to impose the harshest sanctions that block any food, medical, material or financial aid to truly innocent peaceful Syrians in the territories of their country retaken from terrorists," Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov accused the Department of State of tacit support for the offensive from the Idlib de-escalation zone by large groups of militants having artillery and armored vehicles, both affiliated with the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda — Jabhat Al-Nusra (both outlawed in Russia). He stressed that the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo for some reason referred to the militants who staged the attack as innocent peaceful civilians.

According to the spokesman, the Ministry is not surprised by hypocrisy of Pompeo, who announced the Department’s "concern" about "major offensive" of Russia and Syria against the alleged civilians of Idlib. The State Department has never publicly aligned itself with the Russian fight against international terrorism in Syria, and all its statements of concerns for "civilian" suffering were made "solely in the moments of the terrorists’ crushing defeats and long-awaited liberation of peaceful Syrians," he said.

The general recalled that "similar hypocritical tweets from the US State Department accompanied the liberation and — unlike Raqqa, bombed off the face of the Earth by the US — independent restoration of peaceful existence in Aleppo, Palmira, Hama, Homs, Douma, Deraa, Suweida, Kuneitra, Deir-ez-Zor."

Pompeo’s statement

On January 28, Pompeo tweeted that "ruthless actions by Russia, the Iranian regime, Hizballah, and the Assad regime are directly preventing the establishment of a ceasefire." The Secretary of State claimed that the US condemn these "barbaric attacks" and call for immediate ceasefire.

According to Al-Masdar News website, on January 28, the Syrian armed forces liberated Maarat al-Numan from the former Nusra Front and National Liberation Front and continued offensive in Idlib province towards Saraqib and Ariha, also under control of the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front.