Sep 23, 2018

Pro-Turkey rebels have cautiously accepted a Moscow-Ankara deal to prevent a Russia-backed regime attack on Syria's last major opposition bastion of Idlib, while a small jihadist group has rejected it.

The dominant force in the northwestern region bordering Turkey, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance led by jihadists of Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, had on Sunday however still not responded.

Late Saturday, the National Liberation Front (NLF) rebel alliance in a statement accepted the deal reached on Monday for Idlib, but said they remained on their guard.

They announced "our full cooperation with our Turkish ally in helping to make a success their efforts to spare civilians from the afflictions of war".

"But we will stay alert to any betrayal by the Russians, the regime or the Iranians," the NLF warned, fearing the agreement to be "temporary".