Despite a Russian-Turkish agreement to create a demilitarized zone on the edge of the Idlib province, the last rebel stronghold in Syria at war, the jihadists of the Hayat group Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) said Sunday they want to continue fight against the regime, without however clearly rejecting the agreement.

The majority jihadists in the Syrian province of Idlib said Sunday they want to continue the fight against the regime, just hours before a deadline to withdraw from an area to be demilitarized under a Russian-Turkish agreement.

The fate of this agreement, negotiated between Moscow, ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Ankara, support of the rebels, to avoid a deadly assault of the regime against the last rebel and insurgent stronghold in Syria at war, seems to more and more fragile.

Especially since, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) and an AFP correspondent, the jihadists made no visible move to withdraw from the future buffer zone that they should leave Monday at the latest.

And heavy gunfire from that area, from which they were in principle withdrawn, took place on Saturday night.

"We will not abandon the choice of jihad and combat to achieve the goals of our blessed revolution, first and foremost to bring down the criminal regime," Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the leading jihadist alliance in Idlib, said in a statement. of the former Syrian branch of Al Qaeda.

"We will not give up our weapons," he said.

HTS does not say clearly if it rejects the Russian-Turkish deal of 17 September.

In an implicit reference to Turkey, the jihadist group says it " appreciates the efforts of all those who struggle inside Syria and abroad to protect the liberated areas (of the regime) and prevent their destruction or massacres. "

"Russian duplicity"

"But we warn against the duplicity of the Russian occupier and against any confidence in his intentions," add the jihadists, who together with other groups control more than two-thirds of the future buffer zone and 60% of the province.

The Russian-Turkish agreement provides for a demilitarized zone to separate the territories of the Assad regime from those still held by rebels and jihadists, thus avoiding an assault and a possible humanitarian catastrophe in Idlib (north-west).

The main rebel group, the National Liberation Front, officially endorsed him and claimed to have completely withdrawn his heavy weapons last Wednesday, according to the established deadline.

But on Saturday night, several mortar fire from the buffer zone targeted a military position in Jourine, in the north of the neighboring province of Hama, killing two soldiers, as well as areas in Aleppo, according to the OSDH.

The NGO was not able to say whether the shooting was carried out by rebels or jihadists.

"This is the first clear violation of the agreement since the withdrawal of heavy weapons. This area is supposed to be cleared of mortar shells , " said Rami Abdel Rahmane, director of the OSDH.

Two scenarios

The pro-government daily Al-Watan also reported bombings, indicating that parts of the western part of Aleppo province had been hit by "mortar shells and heavy artillery fire supposed to be removed from the area. "

According to Mr. Abdel Rahman, the regime has also intermittently bombed the buffer zone in recent days. And new bombardments of the regime were recorded Sunday evening on an area located "in the west of the buffer zone" , attached to the province of Hama.

In a report by the Turkey-based think tank Omran, Syrian specialist Nawar Oliver believes that if HTS overthrows the deal, two scenarios should be considered: "either Turkey and the FNL launch a military offensive against HTS Russia is seizing the opportunity with the support of the regime and its allies to enter Idleb . "

Assad, who has repeatedly expressed his willingness to win back Syria as a whole, described the Russian-Turkish agreement as "temporary" and assured that Elleb and neighboring regions would eventually return to the regime.

The Ankara-Moscow agreement is only the latest in a series of truce agreements reached during the seven-year war in Syria, which has left more than 360,000 dead and millions of displaced and refugees.