A day after a truce was reached through Turkish mediation and ended bloody clashes between rival factions, which threatened the outbreak of a wider internal war between opponents of Bashar al-Assad, the opposition fighters and residents in the region said that calm had returned to the region of northwest Syria controlled by the opposition factions on Sunday.
In order to force factions of the opposition “National Army” supported by Turkey to accept a peace agreement, the main group of extremist fighters, the “Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham,” which was included in the United States, Turkey, and other forced into terrorist organisations, expanded their control in the last significant stronghold of the opposition forces on Saturday.
The “Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham” withdrew its forces from the city of Afrin, north of Aleppo Governorate, which it entered last Thursday, in accordance with the original agreement, in exchange for its adversaries working to establish a unified civil administration that achieves stability and puts an end to chaos.
The “Levant Front” and the “Army of Islam,” the two main opposition fighter factions that fall under the “Third Legion” of the “National Army,” have reportedly agreed to disband their military presence in metropolitan areas and return to their respective fronts.
Sources in the opposition and experts in the affairs of extremist groups said that the agreement indicates new gains for the extremist group, which has long been seeking a broader economic and security role in areas in northern Syria outside its stronghold in the densely populated city of Idlib.
“Compared to what it was, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham now plays a significant security role in the recent fights following its dominance over Afrin.
It also hopes to grow further, according to Wael Alwan, a former member of the Syrian opposition and researcher at the bridge centre in Istanbul.
Sources in the armed opposition also said that the agreement brings Muhammad Al -Jolani, the leader of the “Headquarters for the Liberation of Al -Sham”, to its goal of expanding a civil administration that now manages public services in the Idlib area to other areas in an attempt to get rid of the extremist image of the former Syrian branch of al -Qaeda.
The main groups of combatants in the opposition are primarily supported by Turkey. Because of its robust military presence in Damascus and northwest Syria, it was unable to maintain control over the remaining rebel strongholds.
A senior leader in the armed opposition, who asked not to be named in an interview with “Reuters”, said that Turkey has intensified its intervention to end the fighting that killed dozens.
Turkey is concerned that if Moscow gains control of the “Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham,” a sizable portion of the rebel pocket will be free to resume its ongoing bombing campaign against the area, which is home to more than three million Syrian refugees who fled Assad’s rule under the pretext of fighting extremists.
In a letter from Moscow, two leaders of the opposition fighters claimed that Russian combat aircraft had bombed the village of Kafr Jana, the scene of some of the fiercest battles between the fighters, indicating that they would attack without the deterrent areas that are now more heavily influenced by the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham.
Despite bloody internal fighting, the opposition forces in Syria’s stronghold have made a peaceful return.
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