DOHA, December 7. /TASS/. The current offensive by terrorists in Syria was carefully planned long in advance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference.
"According to our data, the offensive of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (banned in Russia) from the Idlib zone to other areas, the capture of the city of Hama and the approaches toward the city of Homs - all this was carefully planned long in advance and is, of course, an attempt to change the situation on the ground, to change the balance of power," he said.
"We will oppose this in every possible way. We will support the legitimate Syrian government. And at the same time, of course, we will actively advocate the need to resume dialogue with the opposition, as required by [UN] Resolution 2254," Lavrov continued.
On November 27, the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group (banned in Russia) carried out a major attack in northern Syria. The Syrian military command later said the army had to fall back from Aleppo to regroup and prepare for a counterattack.
On December 5, the command of the Syrian Armed Forces announced that militants infiltrated into several neighborhoods of Hama. According to a statement from the command, government forces in charge of defending Hama were pulled out of the city.