Fri, Sep 28, 2018 page6

• Rebels expect militants to quit buffer

  IDLIB PROVINCE: Extremist fighters have reportedly sent signals to Turkey that they plan to leave the zone, and mainstream forces said they foresee no problems from them

  • Reuters, AMMAN
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  Syrian rebels yesterday said they have growing confidence that their militant rivals will comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarized buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive.

  Turkey and Russia last week agreed to enforce a new demilitarized zone in Idlib Province from which “radical” rebels will be required to withdraw by the middle of next month.

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

  

  A Russian soldier stands guard at the Abu Duhur crossing on the eastern edge of Syria’s Idlib Province on Tuesday as Syrians cross from rebel-held areas to areas held by the Syrian government.

  Photo: AFP

  Several rebel sources said neither extremist nor mainstream rebels had started to pull back yet.

  However, a senior Syrian opposition official said Tahrir al-Sham had sent secret feelers to the Turkish army though third parties in recent days signaling 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 demilitarized zone is to be 15km to 20km deep, run along the contact line between rebel and government fighters, and is to be patrolled by Turkish and Russian forces.

  The agreement could unravel quickly if they cannot impose their plan on the extremists.

  Another senior opposition figure said he expected Tahrir al-Sham to implement the deal and dismissed risks of a showdown because the agreement did not seek to force extremist 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 rebel delegation in Russian-sponsored talks in the Kazakh capital.

  Turkey has 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 extremist threat.

  A regional intelligence source said the extremists were softening their stance to avoid internecine fighting with mainstream rebels 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 rebel groups.

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

  Another senior rebel source said months of covert Turkish intelligence efforts were focusing on separating a minority of foreign jihadists within Tahrir al-Sham from a majority of its Syrian followers, who could eventually be rehabilitated.

  Precision strikes would help to handle foreign extremists, 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.

  The National Front for Liberation, which had declared its “complete cooperation” with the Turkish effort, said it foresaw a smooth operation once logistical preparations with Turkey were concluded.

  “Pulling heavy arms from the frontline is not a difficult matter as most of these weapons are deployed away from the frontline,” Abdul Razzak said, adding the group’s only concern was whether the Syrian army and its allies would abide by the deal.
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