Russia and Turkey have agreed to set up a “demilitarized zone” in the last remaining rebel-held part of Syria, temporarily halting an offensive on Idlib province by Syrian government forces. The announcement, by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, came after a meeting in Sochi between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who support opposing sides in Syria’s long-running war. Under the deal, radical Islamist groups will have to get out of the Idlib border zone by Oct. 15, while the province will be controlled by Turkish-backed moderate rebel forces. “We were expecting a battle and the shedding of blood of tens of thousands of Syrians, waves of refugees to Turkey and Europe, and having to cope with an enormous humanitarian crisis,” Col. Fatah Hassoun, who represents the Syrian opposition forces in negotiations among Turkey, Russia, and Iran, told PBS’ Frontline. “The agreement saved us all these things.”
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