In an interview with al-Ghad TV, SOHR director, Rami Abdulrahman, says there is no truth in Erdogan's claim that militants have begun retreating from buffer zone in Idlib 27 09 2018
Transcript:
Against the backdrop of reports about the retreat of extremists and their departure from the buffer zone, how do you see the picture in Idlib now?
Good evening.
Yesterday, SOHR refuted Turkish president’s claim that the militants had begun retreating from the buffer zone.
Not a single militant was removed from the buffer zone, nor any heavy weapon.
Not even a single rifle.
Today, we have again reported that no militants were removed; no movement has occurred in the buffer zone.
All what the Turkish president has said, and all what a rebel speaker, whose name I don’t know was given to Reuters or not, is not true at all.
But for the sake of argument, let’s assume that those people will retreat from Idlib or the buffer zone, where would they go?
There are more than 30 jihadists in Idlib.
Will they go to Turkey and from there they are sent to Egypt or some other country?
We don’t know if that’s the plan of the Turkish government and intelligence.
But there is another areas;
will they go to Afrin, which is under Turkey's occupation?
All the talk about retreating is for media consumption.
When and how do you expect the departure of the extremist militants?
Where would they go? They will remain in Idlib, unless a corridor is opened for them by the Turkish intelligence to send them to an Arab country or another area.
There is a Turkish optimism about that. How do you perceive the Turkish role in that?
Those who brought into Syria those jihadists, whose number is higher than 30 thousand of Syrians and foreigners… The Turkish intelligence can get them out IF they wanted. But where to? We don’t know.
So far, all that talk around this, whether from the Regime or the rebels, is for media consumption. Nothing has changed on the ground.
Even the opposition that is close to Turkey, like the National Liberation Front, has not withdrawn militants nor heavy weapons from any area it controls within the buffer zone.
For how much longer will the Regime and Russia can wait? Is there a deadline given to Turkey to remove the militants from that area or Idlib?
Yes, 15th of October is the date set for implementing the buffer zone. After that another stage of the Putin-Erdogan agreement.
But let wait in the coming days and see if Turkey, or the Turkish intelligence specifically, can convince the jihadist factions that it has relations with one way or another, to retreat from the buffer zone.
I think it can, if it wanted to.