Russia and Turkey are preparing talks on how to de-escalate fighting in Syria's Idlib province, the TASS news agency reported Monday, citing Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Another series of consultations, which we hope will lead us to an agreement on how to ensure that this is indeed a de-escalation zone and that terrorists do not operate there, is being prepared now," Lavrov was quoted as saying.

The Russia-backed Bashar Assad regime has been on the offensive since December in an attempt to capture and reopen a strategic highway held by the opposition since 2012, despite a cease-fire deal brokered in 2018 between Russia and Turkey.

Idlib province is home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Syria in earlier bouts of violence.