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SYRIA-CONFLICT-RUSSIA-TURKEY-DIPLOMACY LEAD
Kremlin says Syria Idlib deal going ahead despite missed deadline
MOSCOW, Oct 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday a deal to
create a buffer zone in Syria’s Idlib was going ahead, despite jihadists
missing a deadline to leave the area the day before.
“According to the information we are receiving from our military, the
memorandum is being implemented and the military are satisfied with the way
the Turkish side is working,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the
Russian-Turkish deal.
Moscow supports the Syrian regime while Ankara backs the rebels in the
conflict.
“Of course one cannot expect everything to go smoothly with absolutely no
glitches, but the work is being carried out,” Peskov said.
The accord is a last-ditch effort to stave off a regime onslaught on
Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold left in war-ravaged Syria and home to
around three million people.
But the target date for the withdrawal came and went on Monday without any
hardliners leaving, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syria’s government said it would take “time” to judge if the deal had
failed, adding that it would have to wait for the reaction of Russia.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1725 hrs
SYRIA-CONFLICT-RUSSIA-TURKEY-DIPLOMACY LEAD
Kremlin says Syria Idlib deal going ahead despite missed deadline
MOSCOW, Oct 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday a deal to
create a buffer zone in Syria’s Idlib was going ahead, despite jihadists
missing a deadline to leave the area the day before.
“According to the information we are receiving from our military, the
memorandum is being implemented and the military are satisfied with the way
the Turkish side is working,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the
Russian-Turkish deal.
Moscow supports the Syrian regime while Ankara backs the rebels in the
conflict.
“Of course one cannot expect everything to go smoothly with absolutely no
glitches, but the work is being carried out,” Peskov said.
The accord is a last-ditch effort to stave off a regime onslaught on
Idlib, the largest rebel stronghold left in war-ravaged Syria and home to
around three million people.
But the target date for the withdrawal came and went on Monday without any
hardliners leaving, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syria’s government said it would take “time” to judge if the deal had
failed, adding that it would have to wait for the reaction of Russia.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1725 hrs