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Conflicting Reports Emerge on Heavy Weapons Withdrawal From Idlib ‘Buffer Zone’

Smoke rising from the countryside of Latakia after artillery shelling by regime forces on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Step Agency)
Smoke rising from the countryside of Latakia after artillery shelling by regime forces on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Step Agency)
    Beirut, London- Asharq Al-Awsat
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Conflicting Reports Emerge on Heavy Weapons Withdrawal From Idlib ‘Buffer Zone’

Smoke rising from the countryside of Latakia after artillery shelling by regime forces on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Step Agency)
Smoke rising from the countryside of Latakia after artillery shelling by regime forces on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Step Agency)

Conflicting reports have emerged on whether Syrian opposition factions have started to withdraw their heavy weapons from a buffer zone agreed between Turkey and Russia on the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib.

On September 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to set up a demilitarized zone about 15 to 20 kilometers wide skirting Idlib.

"There have been no withdrawals of heavy weapons from any area or any front. This report is denied, completely denied," National Liberation Front (NLF) spokesman Naji Mustafa said.

His comments came after Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced Sunday morning that Faylaq al-Sham began withdrawing its heavy weapons under the Turkish-Russian agreement.

The group is the first to comply with a requirement to leave the demilitarized buffer zone set up to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive, said Observatory head Rami Abdulrahman.

“The group is withdrawing its forces and heavy arms in small batches from southern Aleppo countryside, adjacent to Idlib province, which is part of the demilitarized zone towards the west,” he added.

Faylaq al-Rahman includes between 8,500 and 10,000 fighters and is one of the factions of NLF, which was established in August with the support of Ankara in Idlib and neighboring areas that fall under the control of fighting factions in Aleppo, Hama and Lattakia, he explained.

Failaq al-Sham is the third largest group among the opposition factions in northwest Syria, according to the monitor.

"There have been no changes in the location of weapons or redistribution of fighters, even as we remain committed to the agreement reached in (the Russian resort of) Sochi,” Failaq al-Sham’s Media Officer Sayf al-Raad told AFP.

Under the agreement, all factions in the planned buffer area must hand over their heavy weapons by October 10 and radical groups must withdraw by October 15.

The deal was welcomed by world powers, aid organizations and the United Nations, which all hoped it would help avoid a bloody military assault on the area.

Formerly US-backed opposition group Jaish al-Izza rejected the deal on Saturday.

"We are against this deal, which eats into liberated (opposition-held) areas and bails out Bashar al-Assad," its head Jamil al-Saleh told AFP.

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Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
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Syrians Circulate Lists of War Crimes Suspects

 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).
 The Daraya cemetery, which contains the remains of victims of the 2012 massacre (circulated).

The file of individuals implicated in war crimes and human rights violations under the deposed Syrian regime remains one of the most complex challenges facing the new administration in Syria, especially in the absence of official, public lists of wanted persons.
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria has been investigating war crimes and other violations of international human rights law since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Operating remotely, the commission has compiled lists containing approximately 4,000 names of individuals suspected of committing serious crimes. Following his first visit to Syria on January 9, a UN investigator tasked with examining these violations expressed optimism for “productive cooperation” with the new Syrian authorities.
In addition, “Pro Justice,” a Washington-based organization founded in 2019 by Syrian Americans under the sponsorship of defected Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab, previously released a “blacklist” before the fall of the regime, naming 100 high-ranking officials from the former regime accused of war crimes committed since 2011. This remains one of the few publicly documented lists, with detailed files outlining the role of each individual in these crimes.

In December, UN investigators announced confidential lists naming 4,000 individuals responsible for serious crimes in Syria. They emphasized the importance of ensuring accountability at the highest levels following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
Linnea Arvidsson, coordinator for the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, stated: “It is crucial to hold perpetrators of crimes at the highest levels accountable.”
Since the regime’s fall, dozens of “unofficial” lists have circulated, naming and depicting suspects. One prominent list includes 161 names of senior officers and leaders of the former regime, topped by Bashar al-Assad and his younger brother Maher al-Assad, commander of the Fourth Armored Division.
This division, along with Air Force Intelligence, is accused of committing atrocities such as the Daraya massacre in 2012, the chemical weapons attack in Douma in 2013, and other crimes including drug trafficking and managing detention centers tied to these activities.
Nevertheless, arrests have also been made of individuals not listed in these reports. For example, Brigadier General Riyad Hassan, head of Political Security in Damascus, was arrested on December 27. Other arrests include Hayyan Miya, leader of the National Defense Militia in Latakia, and Aws Salloum, known as “Azrael of Sednaya,” who is accused of brutally executing over 500 detainees during the security campaign in Homs and its countryside.
Similarly, Mohammad Nour al-Din Shalloum, accused of destroying surveillance footage from Sednaya Prison, was detained after the regime’s fall, along with the killing of several prison guards.
On December 26, Syrian military forces successfully killed Shujaa al-Ali, infamously known as the “Butcher of Houla,” during clashes in western rural Homs. Al-Ali, who led the largest militia in the region, had spent the last four years engaging in extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and drug trafficking.
Platforms such as the “Wanted List of Former Regime Officers and Militants,” which emerged after the regime’s collapse, continue to monitor suspects and share their names and alleged crimes, primarily targeting well-known militia leaders in their respective regions.
Civil activist Ayman Ahmad from Homs warns that the unregulated circulation of random, unofficial lists on social media poses a significant threat to civil peace. “These lists are a form of incitement to violence and fearmongering, which only complicates the situation,” he said, pointing out reports of over 1,000 arrests during recent security campaigns in Homs neighborhoods.
He added: “As long as arrests are being made based on lists determined by the new administration, even if those lists are not publicly disclosed, we urge a halt to the dissemination of random, unofficial lists. These lists incite indiscriminate violence and deepen social divisions.”