Syrian opposition think militants will quit Idlib buffer zone

Several sources say neither militants nor other groups have started to pull back

AMMAN: Syrian opposition said on Thursday they have growing confidence that their militant rivals will comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarised buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive.

Last week Turkey and Russia agreed to enforce a new demilitarised zone in Idlib province from which 'radical' fighters will be required to withdraw by the middle of next month.

The position of the biggest militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), spearheaded by al Qaeda’s former Syrian offshoot, will be crucial to the deal’s success, but it has so far said nothing.

Several sources said neither militants nor mainstream opposition fighters had started to pull back yet.



However, a senior Syrian opposition official said HTS had sent secret feelers to the Turkish army through third parties in recent days signalling it would comply.

“Matters are moving well and Tahrir al-Sham has pledged it is going to implement but without announcing its agreement,” said the opposition official, who was briefed by Turkish officials and requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The demilitarised zone will be 15 to 20 km (10 to 12 miles) deep, run along the contact line between opposition and government fighters, and will be patrolled by Turkish and Russian forces. The agreement could unravel quickly if they cannot impose their plan on the militants.

Another senior opposition figure said he expected HTS to implement the deal and dismissed risks of a showdown because the agreement did not seek to force militant fighters to hand over their weapons.

“I foresee it will be implemented within the time set,” said Ahmed Toma, a prominent opposition figure who headed the Syrian opposition delegation in Russian-sponsored talks in the Kazakh capital.

Turkey sought to avert the Syrian army’s Idlib offensive, fearing a new exodus of refugees as the UN warned of a humanitarian catastrophe. Ankara pledged to Moscow it would handle the militant threat.

A regional intelligence source said the militants were softening their stance to avoid internecine fighting with other groups that could wreck the deal and allow the stalled offensive to resume.

“I don’t expect any hurdles in implementation from all the revolutionary forces at all,” said Abdul Salam Abdul Razzak, a leading figure in the National Front for Liberation, the alliance of Turkey-allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition groups.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with Reuters late on Tuesday that the withdrawal of “radical groups” had already started.



Another senior opposition source said months of covert Turkish intelligence efforts were focusing on separating a minority of foreign militants within HTS from a majority of its Syrian followers, who could eventually be rehabilitated.

Precision strikes would help to handle foreign militants, whose presence has often been cited by the Syrian army and Russia as the reason for an assault on Idlib as a “terrorist nest”, the source said.