Rebels cold to Idlib deadline

Militants in Syria’s Idlib indicated tepid support for a demilitarised zone in the country’s final opposition stronghold, even as they appeared to defy an internationally-brokered deadline for their withdrawal.

But as the deadline passed, monitoring groups said that the militants were still there.

“We value the efforts of all those striving — at home and abroad — to protect the liberated area and prevent its invasion and the perpetration of massacres in it,” said the Al Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, in a statement late on Sunday. “But we warn at the same time against the trickery of the Russian occupier or having faith in its intentions,” it added.