Iraq News

Extremists fail to leave Syria buffer, throwing deal into doubt

Extremists in Syria's Idlib province failed to meet a Monday (October 15th) deadline to leave a planned buffer zone ringing the country's last opposition bastion, casting fresh doubt over a deal to avert bloodshed, AFP reported.

A Russian-Turkish truce agreement reached nearly a month ago for the northwestern region gave "radical fighters" until October 15th to leave a proposed demilitarised area between regime and opposition forces.

The accord was a last-ditch effort to stave off a regime onslaught on Idlib.

But the target date for the withdrawal came and went without any hardliners leaving.

"We did not document the withdrawal of any extremist fighters from the entire demilitarised zone," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said Monday morning.

Extremists had until midnight Monday to pull out, according to Abdel Rahman and two opposition commanders in Idlib.

Hours before the cut-off time, extremist alliance Tahrir al-Sham vowed to continue fighting.

An earlier deadline of October 10th for all opposition fighters and extremists to pull heavy weapons from the zone appeared to have been met on time.

But late Saturday, mortar rounds fired from the buffer hit regime positions and killed two soldiers, the Observatory said, indicating heavy arms may still be in the zone.

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