MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. A terrorist attack on positions of the Syrian forces has been repelled in the Idlib region and at least ten gunmen were killed, Alexander Karpov, deputy chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, said on Saturday.

"Near the locality of Mellaja in the Idlib province, a detachment of about 20 foreign militants from the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group (one of the names of Jabhat al-Nusra outlawed in Russia - TASS) attacked positions of the government forces of the Syrian Arab Republic," he said. "The Syrian armed forces repelled the terrorists’ attack and eliminated at least ten militants," he said.

According to Karpov, the surviving gunmen retreated towards the locality of Ftira.

He added that in the past 24 hours, Russian military police went on with patrolling the Membij area in Aleppo province, setting off from Adjami along two routes towards Bozgekli and Avsharya. Also, Russian military police conducted patrols in al-Hasakah province, on route from Qamishli to Ain Diwar and back.

The Russian reconciliation center continues to fulfill assigned tasks after the completion of the military campaign in Syria. The center’s officers regularly travel around the country's liberated areas to assess the humanitarian situation. The main efforts of the Russian military are now focused on assistance to the refugees returning to their homes and evacuation of civilians from de-escalation zones.