The Russian Centre for Syria reconciliation said a day earlier that the White Helmets, backed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as the Al Nusra Front*), were preparing a new provocation involving toxic agents in Syria.

The White Helmets have finished filming a staged provocation implicating the Syrian army in the use of chemical agents, according to the Russian Centre for Syria reconciliation. The group's video will show fake casualties allegedly caused by a "chemical attack" by the Syrian government, the centre reported.

"According to the information that the Russian centre for Syria reconciliation received at around 16:00 Moscow time [13:00 GMT] from several independent sources, representatives of the White Helmets, together with terrorists, have finished the shooting of a staged video about the [Syrian] governmental forces' alleged use of 'toxic agents' against civilians in the Zerbah settlement of the Idlib de-escalation zone", the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.