MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Local residents clashed with members of Turkish-backed militant groups in Syria’s Idlib province, Alexander Karpov, a deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Parties in Syria, told a briefing on Monday.

"Against the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis on the territory controlled by the Turkish armed forces, the feeling of protest against lawlessness of illegal armed groups is becoming increasingly widespread among local residents. In the settlement of Irkhab in the Idlib governorate, locals clashed with militants who arrived to forcibly recruit new members for pro-Turkish militant groups," he said.

In his words, militants also dispersed a protest of locals in the town of El Bab, who demanded to end the occupation. About 15 people were injured and some 10 arrested.

About 100 people gathered in the city of Afrin in the Aleppo governorate, demanding the return of olive fields, seized from their local owners by militants of pro-Turkish armed groups.