UNITED STATES (VOP TODAY NEWS) – Turkey’s pro-Turkish opposition guerrillas in Idlib have said they will cooperate with Ankara’s diplomatic efforts but will not hand over their weapons or territory they control in the first exit of the Sochi deal.
Turkey and Russia in Sochi reached an agreement on Monday to establish a demilitarized zone between government forces and opposition militants in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib to avoid a huge offensive that the Syrian army and its allies planned to launch.
Under the deal, opposition militants must withdraw from the region by October 15. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the depth of the area would range from 15 to 20 kilometers and would extend along the line of contact between the armed groups and the Syrian army.
Turkish and Russian troops will patrol the area to monitor the implementation of this agreement and the parties’ commitment to its terms.
The National Liberation Front (FNL), which includes a number of factions of the Free Syrian Army, which Turkey regards as moderate, declared its full cooperation with the Turkish ally in the success of its effort to spare civilians the scourge of war.
“But we will remain wary of any treachery on the part of the Russians, the regime and the Iranians, especially with statements from them indicating that this agreement is temporary,” it said in a statement.
“Our fingers will remain on the trigger and we will not abandon our weapons, our land or our revolution,” the statement said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that under the agreement with the Turkish side, all the weapons held by the opposition militants will be withdrawn from heavy weapons, mortars, tanks and missile systems from the demilitarized zone by October 10. While Turkey said that the “moderate opposition” will retain its weapons and remain in the areas controlled by the “will be cleared of extremists.”
The Syrian Liberation Front, the strongest militant group in northwestern Syria, has yet to announce its position on the Turkish-Russian deal. The Syrian Liberation Front, formerly known as the Nasra Front, is dominated by the Al-Nasser Front, one of the branches of al-Qaeda, which is classified by the United Nations and most of the world as a terrorist organization.
