Truce brings some relief but no joy for Syrians in Idlib

BEIRUT — For the first time in three months, Omar Zaqzaq says he and his family slept through the entire night, without an airstrike or artillery shell jolting them out of bed.

Idlib’s skies were completely free of Russian and Syrian government warplanes Friday as a cease-fire deal took hold in Syria’s northwestern province, the last rebel stronghold.

The truce, brokered by Turkey and Russia, halted a terrifying three-month air and ground campaign that killed hundreds and sent 1 million people fleeing toward the Turkish border.

But there is no joy among residents of the province, or for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people who say they won’t be returning to their homes anytime soon.

“The truce is only a chance for the two sides to catch their breath” said Mr. Zaqzaq, who lives in the rebel-held town of Binnish, along with his wife, 5-yearold daughter Maria and 3year-old son Akef. “It’s a very fragile truce, and I don’t think it will last long.”

The agreement, announced Thursday after a six-hour meeting between the Turkish and Russian presidents in Moscow, essentially froze the conflict lines in Idlib. It does not force Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces to roll back significant military gains made in Russianbacked offensive for the past three months — a key Turkish demand prior to the talks.

That effectively rules out the possibility of hundreds of thousands of displaced people returning to their homes, now under Mr. Assad’s control.

“If we wanted to live under

their mercy [the Russia and Syrian governments], we would have stayed there,” said Alaa Turki Hammam, 25, who fled his home near Marat al-Numan and is now at a camp west of the town of Haranabush near the Turkish border.

“Now, after this meeting, we have lost even 1% hope that we would return to our homes,” he added.

Russian President

Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan each back opposing sides in the conflict and have become the main power brokers in the war-torn country.

The deal announced in Moscow is the latest of many cease-fire agreements for Idlib in recent years. All have ended up unraveling after a few months, triggering new offensives that captured more territory from the opposition. Government forces now control much of Syria after evicting rebels from other parts of the country.

The cease-fire deal appears to achieve Moscow’s key goal of allowing the Syrian government to keep control of the north-south highway known as the M5.

The deal sets up a security corridor along the M4, a key east-west highway in Idlib. According to the accord, published in Syrian pro-government media, Russian and

Turkish troops are supposed to begin joint patrols on the M4 on March 15.

The deal lacked specifics or a known mechanism to enforce the truce, saying that details related to the security corridor along the M4 will be worked out by Russian and Turkish officials within a week.

Under a Russia-Turkey agreement reached in the summer of 2018, the two highways were supposed to be opened before the end of that year. But rejection of the deal by al-Qaida-linked militants in Idlib kept the two vital roads closed.

Turkey, a strong backer of the rebels, has intervened in the war four times to carve out zones of influence. It has sent thousands of troops to Idlib, leading to direct clashes in which 60 Turkish soldiers and scores of Syrian forces were killed in the past month.

“The truce is only a chance for the two sides to catch their breath. It’s a very fragile truce and I don’t think it will last long.”

— Omar Zaqzaq, who lives in the rebel-held town of Binnish, Syria