Jihadists Remain In Syria Buffer Zone, Casting Doubt On Russia-Turkey Deal

An agreement between Russia and Turkey to evict anti-regime fighters from Syria’s northwest region of Idlib is not materializing, thus raising the specter of a major offensive to recapture the final rebel stronghold in the country. Whereas al Qa’ida-linked members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham abided by an October 10 target to remove all heavy weaponry from the demilitarized zone, there have been no signs of a pull-out from the territory ahead of Monday’s deadline. “We have not monitored any withdrawals by jihadist fighters at all from areas falling in the planned buffer,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group conveyed in a statement. Moscow, which backs the Assad regime, and Turkey, which supports the National Liberation Front in Idlib, agreed last month to set up a no-go zone adjacent to the Turkish border in order to avert what humanitarian organizations warned would amount to a devastating Syrian assault on the region. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham controls more than two-thirds of the proposed demilitarized region, and should the group not remove its forces then analysts believe that either Turkey will unleash the NLF against it or Russia will use the opportunity to move allied troops into Idlib.