RUSSIAN Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov has called for international co-operation in the fight against terrorism in Syria amid claims that jihadist groups are planning a chemical attack.

“It has become a preferred method for terrorists to use chemical weapons and to subsequently blame the government forces, and messages about their readiness still regularly reach us through various channels,” he told the Tass news agency on Tuesday.

The Syrian army has largely defeated the jihadist insurgency that once saw the Islamists hold vast swathes of territory, but the country remains on high alert.

“The bus explosion in the center of Damascus on October 20 2021 was one of the worst terrorist attacks. It claimed the lives of 14 Syrian soldiers,” Mr Syromolotov said.

Russia has committed to helping the Syrian government track down any Isis fighters who remain on Syrian territory.

The jihadist death cult has seen a resurgence and in January members launched an audacious attack to try to free more than 3,000 fellow fanatics from a prison in the northern Hasakah province.

Two hundred Isis militants were involved in the attack, which was believed to have been planned about six months in advance and took place under the noses of US intelligence and armed forces.

Eyebrows were raised after the leader of Isis, Abu Ibrahim al-Quraishi, was killed when his Idlib compound was raided by US special operations forces soon after.

Quraishi was the second of the death cult’s leaders to be found within walking distance from the Turkish border. 

He had previously been a prisoner of the US in the notorious Camp Bucca, where he gave detailed information of the structure of al-Qaida in Iraq, becoming a key informant.

Last week, Russia alleged that the US was plotting to use “terrorist sleeper cells” to carry out attacks in the coastal Latakia province and Damascus.