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Commanders of opposition armed groups in northwestern Syria will meet in Turkey soon to discuss the Russian-Turkish deconfliction agreement on the governorate of Idlib, a source familiar with the situation in the region told the Syrian news outlet Enab Baladi on September 26.

According to the source, the meeting will be held upon the request of the Turkish government, which will pressure the armed groups to respect and fulfill the agreement. Under the agreement, which was reach on September 17, the armed groups will have to establish a demilitarized zone 15km deep in the governorate of Idlib and 20km deep in the al-Ghab Plains.

A day earlier, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during an interview with the Reuters news agency that “radical groups” had already started withdrawing from the demilitarized zone.

The deconfliction agreement specify that all heavy weapons should be withdrawn from the demilitarized zone by October 10, while the radical groups should be forced out before October 15. If Turkey fails to meet this timeline, the Damascus government and its allies may employ a military option to implement the agreement.

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