MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Russian air defense systems have destroyed two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which were used by militants to try to attack the Hmeymim air base, chief of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria Alexey Bakin said on Wednesday.

"On 26 June 2019, late at night, militants from illegal armed groups made an attempt to attack the Russian air base Hmeymim with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles. Russian air defense systems detected and destroyed two UAVs which were approaching the Russian air base from the south-west. The Russian air base Hmeymim is operating in the routine mode," Bakin said.

He added that the possibility of provocations staged by militants with the use of toxic substances on the Syrian territory still persists. "The possibility persists of militants from terrorist organizations staging provocations with the use of toxic chemicals in the southern part of the Idlib de-escalation zone with the aim of accusing the government forces of using chemical weapons against civilians," Bakin said.

Officers from the Russian reconciliation center carried out a humanitarian operation in the Mazlum settlement in the Deir ez-Zor province. Since the start of reconciliation process, the Russian center carried out 2,149 humanitarian operations in Syria. A total of 3,448 tonnes of humanitarian cargo were delivered.