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.
The arrangement, according to sources in the opposition and specialists in the dealings of extremist groups, suggests further victories for the extremist group, which has long sought a wider economic and security role in parts of northern Syria outside of its base in the densely populated city of Idlib.
“In the recent battles after its control over Afrin, the Headquarters for the Liberation of Al -Sham has a major security role compared to what it was.
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 claimed that the agreement advances the objectives of Muhammad Al-Jolani, the head of the “Headquarters for the Liberation of Al-Sham,” who is attempting to shed the extremist reputation of the former Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda by expanding the civil administration that currently oversees public services in the Idlib region to other areas.
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.
In an interview with “Reuters,” a senior member of the armed opposition who wished to remain anonymous claimed that Turkey has stepped up its intervention to put an end to the bloody war.
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.
Northwest Syria is now calm again following clashes among opposition factions.
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