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BEIRUT: The dominant alliance in Syria’s last major rebel stronghold of Idlib province said Sunday it would continue to fight, hours before a deadline for the jihadists to withdraw from a planned buffer zone.
“We have not abandoned our choice of jihad and fighting toward implementing our blessed revolution,” said Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, an alliance led by the militants of Al-Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate.
Its statement came just hours before a midnight deadline for HTS and other militants to leave a planned demilitarised zone around the northwestern region of Idlib agreed under a Russian-Turkey deal last month.
But as the clock ticked down, HTS did not explicitly say whether it supported or rejected the September 17 accord between regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey to stave off a regime attack on Idlib.
“We appreciate the efforts of all those who strive inside and abroad to protect the liberated area and forbid its destruction or massacres being carried out in it,” HTS said, in a likely reference to Turkey.
“But at the same time, we warn of the deceitfulness of the Russian occupier and against any trust in its intentions,” it added, referring the regime’s ally.
The militants said they would not give up their weapons.
“We will not abandon them or hand them over,” they said.
HTS and other militants control more than two-thirds of the planned demilitarise area that was to come into force on Monday.
President Bashar Assad’s forces have retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and militants since Russia intervened in the civil war in 2015.
More than 360,000 people have been killed since the conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.