Militant groups refuse to implement Russia-Turkey deal
The fate of an agreement between Russia and Turkey to set up a demilitarized zone in Syria's Idlib hangs in balance with Turkish-backed militants refusing to withdraw and opposing the deployment of Russian troops.
The deal, agreed last month between Ankara and Moscow, provides for the establishment of a U-shaped buffer zone around Idlib that would be free of both terrorists and heavy weapons.
But the so-called National Liberation Front, a Turkish-backed militant alliance in Idlib, told Agence France-Presse late Sunday that it had raised objections to the deal after meeting with Turkish mentors.
"A long meeting was held with our Turkish ally regarding the elements of the agreement, and chiefly the issue of Russia's presence in the buffer area," it quoted NLF spokesman Naji Mustafa as saying.
"We discussed the issue, and the NLF took a clear position rejecting this matter," he said, adding that Turkey "pledged that it would not happen".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached an accord with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on September 17, under which all militants in the planned buffer area must hand over their heavy weapons and terrorist groups must withdraw.
On Sunday, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an NLF faction known as Failaq al-Sham had begun pulling out its heavy weapons from the planned zone but both groups denied it.
"There have been no changes in the location of weapons or redistribution of fighters, even as we remain committed to the agreement reached in Sochi," Failaq al-Sham's media officer Sayf al-Raad said.
Most of the territory where the buffer zone would be set up is held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Takfiri alliance also known as al-Qaeda in Syria. The terrorist group's chief Abu Mohammad al-Jolani has previously warned that weapons were a "red line."
Hurras al-Deen, a smaller al-Qaeda-linked group, has also rejected the agreement and on Saturday, US-backed Jaish al-Izza terrorist group followed suit, saying it rejected the Turkish deal with Russia.
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