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TEHRAN, October 07 -Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the Idlib deal is a temporary measure which is first and foremost aimed at stemming bloodshed in the northwestern province, stressing that all remaining militant-held regions, including Idlib, will definitely be liberated from the clutches of terrorists.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The Syrian leader made the remarks in a meeting held by the central committee of the ruling al-Baath Arab Socialist Party in the capital Damascus on Sunday, saying that all the fuss made by “stems from the fact that it is a fateful thing for them, because the Syrians’ victory in it will lead to the failure of their plans.”
The deal, agreed last month between Turkey and Russia, Syria’s close ally, provides for the establishment of a U-shaped buffer zone around Idlib that would be free of both terrorists and heavy weapons.
Under the Idlib agreement, Turkey and Russia would carry out coordinated military patrols on the borders of the buffer zone in a bid to detect and prevent provocation by third parties. All militants in the demilitarized zone, which surrounds Idlib and also parts of the adjacent provinces of Aleppo and Hama, must pull out heavy arms by Wednesday, and Takfiri groups must withdraw by October 15.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Assad stressed that Syria’s enemies would ramp up their attempts to drain the Arab country militarily, politically, economically and socially as Damascus progresses towards victory, predicting that this would incur internal challenges which are no less serious than war.
Syria is heading towards the rehabilitation of “some segments which incubated chaos and terrorism so that these segments will not be a loophole through which Syria will be targeted in the future,” the Syrian president added.
It is estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 members of different factions of armed groups, which Syria, Russia and Turkey consider terrorists, are active in the volatile province, which is home to around three million inhabitants.
Some 60 percent of the Idlib province is said to be controlled by members of the so-called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, which is a coalition of different factions of terror outfits, largely composed of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.
Russia believes that a buffer zone would help stop attacks from Idlib-based militants on Syrian army positions and Russia's military bases in the flashpoint region.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.
Source: Press TV
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