Baladi News
The National Front for Liberation and other factions and units linked to it started to withdraw the artillery and heavy weapons on Saturday from the demilitarized area, agreed upon in Sochi between the Turkish president and his Russian counterpart.
The heavy arms withdrawal began this morning and will continue for several days, and all of the withdrawn equipment is to be positioned 20 kilometers from the contact lines with the Assad regime forces, a military source told Baladi News on condition of anonymity.
The source added that the withdrawn weapons are rocket launchers, field guns and artillery vehicles, while light and medium weapons and heavy machine guns up to 57 mm remain in their place.
After a summit in Sochi last month, the Russian and Turkish leaders announced the agreement to establish a "demilitarized zone" in Idlib on October 15, where the demilitarized zone was to be a depth of up to 20 km between the opposition control areas and the control areas of the regime. It was also agreed that joint Russian and Turkish patrols will be conducted in the area.
However, the opposition factions rejected any Russian military presence within their areas under any pretext, prompting Turkey to coordinate with the military factions to establish the demilitarized zone within the liberated areas only, while ensuring that no non-Turkish troops will enter the area.