gas mask idlib
© Khalil Ashawi / ReutersA man tries an improvised gas mask in Idlib, Syria
The Russian military has obtained "irrefutable" data that terrorist groups, including Jabhat an-Nusra, and the infamous White Helmets met in Idlib province on Sunday, according to the ministry's spokesperson Igor Konashenkov.

The militants plotted the final scenarios for the chemical attacks that the Syrian army are expected to make in the cities of Jisr ash-Shugur, Serakab, Taftanaz and Sarmin, the Russian military revealed.

"Full readiness of all participants involved in the staging of the provocations is be ensured by the evening of September 8," Konashenkov stated. He added that the terrorists are to receive a "special" signal from some "foreign friends of Syrian revolution" to launch the operation.

The statement comes after earlier warnings from Moscow's that militants are preparing to stage a chemical attack in the Syrian province to give the Western coalition a pretext to strike Syria. In August, the Defense Ministry said that eight canisters of chlorine had been delivered to a village near Jisr al-Shughur city, and that a foreign-trained group of militants had also arrived in the area to simulate a rescue operation after the staged attack.

The US and its allies have repeatedly stressed its readiness to strike Syria if any attack takes place, ignoring all Russia's warnings. Washington's envoy to the UN Nikki Haley recently said that she already knows the perpetrators in case a chemical incident takes place in Syria.