Calm prevailed on Sunday in rebel-controlled northwest Syria a day after a Turkish-brokered truce ended bloody clashes between rival factions which risked wider internecine warfare among opponents of President Bashar al Assad's rule, residents and rebels said.
The main jihadist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), listed as terrorists by the United States, Turkey and others, forced factions from the Turkey-backed opposition National Army to accept a peace deal on Saturday that expanded its grip in the last major rebel enclave, they said.
Under the initial deal, the HTS pulled back its forces from the city of Afrin in northern Aleppo province, which it entered last Thursday, in return for a pledge from its adversaries to work toward a unified civilian administration that would bring stability and end lawlessness.
