"There’s currently no question and can be no question of an operation, of a major assault on Idlib," Russia’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev said in remarks reported by Russian agencies.
The comments came after talks in the southern Russian city of Sochi backed by Iran and Turkey and with representatives of Damascus and the Syrian rebels, AFP reported.
"We still hope that the moderate opposition and our Turkish partners, who took responsibility for stabilising this region, will manage it," Lavrentiev said.
"The threat coming from this zone is still significant," he added.
Assad last week said retaking Idlib, currently dominated by rebels and jihadists, was among the priorities of the Syrian military, which is backed by Moscow.
Syrian regime envoy Bashar Jaafari said following the talks in Sochi that there could be "no compromises or middle-way solutions regarding Syrian territory returning to the control of the Syriangovernment".
Jaafari said the army would be within its rights to return the province by government control by force if a settlement could not be reached, in comments translated into Russian by news agencies.
Lavrentiev on Tuesday also called on the United States to join the Astana peace process.
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