First militant group begins withdrawal from demilitarised zone in Syria's Idlib

BEIRUT: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that militant group Failaq al-Sham has started withdrawing its forces and heavy arms from a demilitarised zone in northwest Syria.

The group is the first to comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarised buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive, Rami Abdulrahman, head
of the UK-based war monitor told Reuters. Militant sources could not immediately be reached for comment.

Russia on Friday warned it will not allow militants in Syria to be sent to Afghanistan or elsewhere under a deal reached with Turkey that averted a large-scale military assault on militant-held Idlib province.



Under the deal, Turkey agreed to separate opposition fighters from hardline militants who belong to groups branded as terrorists by the United Nations, but the fate of those extremists remains uncertain.

“There is talk that they will be sent off to other hotspots, for example Afghanistan,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference at UN headquarters. “This is unacceptable.”