The ceasefire will last six months and could be "automatically extended" for another six months, Alexander Lavrentyev said Friday after talks in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency also reported on the ceasefire -- signed by Russia, Turkey and Iran -- saying a joint working group will be set up by the agreement's three guarantor countries to determine the precise borders of the four zones by June 4.

The security zones would be in place in Idlib province, to the north of the city of Homs, in Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, and in southern Syria.

Such zones, also referred to as non-conflict or safe zones, are meant to be areas where civilians can live without being targeted by any party in Syria's war. However, key issues would involve whether and how the zones would be enforced.

The High Negotiations Committee, a Syrian opposition group, said the agreement is not legitimate because the UN Security Council is the party delegated to oversee all negotiations on the country's brutal six-year conflict. The group also criticized Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying he was trying to partition the nation into useful and non-useful regions. Russia and Iran are both key backers of Assad. Turkey supports Syrian opposition forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared a phone call Friday discussing the zones, the Russian foreign ministry said, according to Russian state media news outlet TASS. "The focus was made on the topic of the Syrian settlement," the ministry said, according to TASS. A State Department official who didn't want to be identified told CNN, "The United States supports any effort that can genuinely de-escalate the violence in Syria, ensure unhindered humanitarian access, focus energies on the defeat of ISIS and other terrorists, and create the conditions for a credible political resolution of the conflict. A spokeswoman for US President Donald Trump commented on the safe zones at the White House daily media briefing. "The President's expressed a desire to achieve peace in Syria ... and we're looking at all ways in order to achieve that," deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. "And we haven't laid out any specifics any further than that at this point." There were reports that the safe zones would be no-fly areas for warplanes from the US-led coalition. "The coalition will continue to strike ISIS targets in Syria. The campaign to defeat ISIS will continue at the same relentless pace it is proceeding now," the State Department official told CNN. Earlier, a Pentagon spokesman, US Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, referred CNN to the State Department for comment but said the de-escalation zones are west of where ISIS operates in Syria. TASS reported Thursday that Moscow says no warplanes will fly over the four safe zones. "We express the confidence that after such a statement, the flights by Syrian combat aircraft and their operation on the territory of de-escalation zones will cease," Lavrentyev said, according to TASS. Syria's Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it accepted a Russian proposal to create de-escalation zones, vowing not to shell the areas in compliance with a largely ignored ceasefire agreed to in December. The Foreign Ministry said regime forces would continue fighting terrorists from ISIS and al Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria, al Nusra Front, according to a statement carried by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.</s>Opposition returns to talks in Astana, Kazakhstan after walking out on Wednesday over air strikes in Syria.

The presidents of Russia and Turkey are pushing for the creation of safe-zones in war-torn Syria as talks were expected to resume on Thursday in Kazakhstan between the government and the opposition.

Meeting in the Russian resort town of Sochi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin expressed hope on Wednesday that the Syrian government and the opposition would adopt this latest proposal to "de-escalate" the conflict, which has run now for six years and claimed some 400,000 lives.

"We both proceed on the basis that - and this is our common position - the creation of safe zones should lead to further pacification and cessation of hostilities," said Putin.

Turkey and Russia are deeply entangled in the war in Syria, including each having troops on the ground - Ankara supporting various Syrian opposition factions and Moscow backing President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

READ MORE: Trump, Putin 'seek Syria ceasefire' in first conversation

The opposition suspended its participation at the talks in Astana, the Kazakh capital, on Wednesday in protest of air attacks that hit areas under their control in Syria, demanding a halt to the government's bombardment.

The Syrian armed opposition returned to the talks on Thursday, the RIA news agency reported.

Russian representatives had presented the rebels with a proposal for four "de-escalation zones" in Syria where the warring sides would be separated by "security lines".

"About terrorists, in spite of the creation of these zones, the war on terror will be ongoing - against such organisations as so-called Islamic State [ISIL], Jabhat al-Nusra, and those ones that are put on the list of terrorist organisations approved by the United Nations," Putin said.

Putin also said Russian and Syrian government jets would halt flights over the specified zones if all sides respect the ceasefire.

The proposal presented to the opposition in Astana delineates four zones in Syria where front lines between the government and opposition forces would be frozen and fighting halted, according to a statement made by the opposition.

The four zones include areas in the provinces of Idlib and Homs, the Eastern Ghouta suburb outside Damascus, and an area in the south of the country.

The zones, according to the proposal, would be monitored by international observers and allow for the voluntary return of refugees.

"We won't admit the emergence on our southern borders of enemy enclaves that would endanger our territorial integrity and security," Erdogan said.

Late Wednesday, Syria's foreign ministry said Damascus is "fully backing" the Russian initiative on the four ceasefire areas, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

But Ahmed Ramadan, an opposition representative, told The Associated Press that the opposition had requested a written answer on a number of questions, including why the ceasefire would only be in effect in the four areas instead of a nationwide truce.

This is the fourth round of talks in Astana since January. Separately, there have been five rounds of UN-sponsored Syria peace talks in Geneva since 2012, but none have led to a sustainable ceasefire.

Later on Wednesday, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, called on the opposition to return to the talks in Astana "because what is important is also to look at the possibility of an outcome on a de-escalation". He stressed the importance of not destroying "the opportunity of good news" related to this issue.</s>BEIRUT – A deal hammered out by Russia, Turkey and Iran to set up “de-escalation zones” in mostly opposition-held parts of Syria went into effect in the early hours of today.

The plan is the latest international attempt to reduce violence in the war-ravaged country, and is the first to envisage armed foreign monitors on the ground in Syria. The United States is not party to the agreement and the Syrian rivals have not signed on to the deal. The armed opposition, instead, was highly critical of the proposal, saying it lacks legitimacy.

The plan, details of which will still be worked out over the next several weeks, went into effect at midnight Friday. There were limited reports of bombing in northern Homs and Hama, two areas expected to be part of the “de-escalation zones,” activists said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

It is not clear how the cease-fire or “de-escalation zones” will be enforced in areas still to be determined in maps to emerge a month from now.

Russian officials said it will be at least another month until the details are worked out and the safe areas established.

IN THE TANGLED MESS that constitutes Syria’s battlefields, there is much that can go wrong with the plan, agreed on in talks Thursday in Kazakhstan.

There is no clear mechanism to resolve conflict and violations- like most other previous deals struck by backers of the warring sides.

A potential complication to implementing the plan is the crowded airspace over Syria. The deal calls for all aircraft to be banned from flying over the safe zones.

Syrian, Russian, Turkish and U.S.-led coalition aircraft operate in different, sometimes same areas in Syria. It is not yet clear how the new plan would affect flightpaths of U.S.-led coalition warplanes battling Islamic State militants and other radical groups – and whether the American air force would abide by a diminished air space.

Russia and Iran – two of the plan’s three sponsors – are key allies of President Bashar Assad’s government and both are viewed as foreign occupation forces by his opponents. Rebels fighting to topple Assad are enraged by Iran’s role in the deal and blame the Shiite power for fueling the sectarian nature of Syria’s conflict, now in its seventh year.

Turkey, the third sponsor, is a major backer of opposition factions and has also sent troops into northern Syria, drawing the ire of Assad and his government.

Yet troops from the three countries are now expected to secure four safe zones. An official with Russia’s military general staff said other countries may eventually have a role in enforcing the de-escalation areas.

Russian Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi told reporters on Friday personnel and formations from Russia, Iran and Turkey will operate checkpoints and observation posts.

He said “security belts” will be created along the borders of the “de-escalation zones” to prevent incidents and fighting between opposing sides. The checkpoints and observation posts will ensure free movement of unarmed civilians and humanitarian aid and will facilitate economic activities, he said.

Rebels have expressed concerns the deal is a prelude to a de facto partitioning of Syria into spheres of influence.

Osama Abo Zayd, a spokesman for the Syrian military factions at the Kazakhstan talks, told The Associated Press it was “incomprehensible” for Iran to act as a guarantor of the deal. A cease-fire is unsustainable in the presence of the Iranian-backed militias in Syria, he said.

The U.S. sent a senior White House official to the Kazakh capital of Astana, where representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran signed the deal, but had no role in the deal.

The idea of armed monitors is a new element – observers deployed in the early years of the Syrian conflict, including U.N. and Arab League observers, were unarmed.

But it’s difficult to imagine how many boots on the ground would be needed to monitor the yet to be mapped areas or how and where exactly Russian, Iranian and Turkish troops would patrol.

“If that happens, we would be looking at a more serious effort than anything in the past,” Aron Lund, a Syria expert wrote in an article Friday.

Lund said that from the outside, the agreement “does not look like it has great chances of success” and seems to “lack a clear mechanism to resolve conflicting claims and interpretations.”

Late Friday, a Syrian opposition coalition, the High Negotiations Committee, denounced the deal in a strongly worded statement. The Western, Saudi-backed HNC said the deal lacks legitimacy and seeks to divide the country.

The HNC also said the deal was an attempt to give Syrian government troops military victories they could not achieve on the battleground by neutralizing rebel-held areas. It called on the U.S. and other Arab allied countries, to prevent the implementation of the deal.

A rebel commander in northern Hama said nearly an hour after the deal went into effect, battles raged with government forces. The area, south of Latamneh, is expected to be part of the deal. Jamil al-Saleh, the commander, said government shelling was intense amid an attempt to advance in the area, scene to fierce battles for weeks. “What deal?” he scoffed.

A previous cease-fire agreement signed in Astana on Dec. 30 helped reduce overall violence in Syria for several weeks but eventually collapsed. Other attempts at a cease-fire in Syria have all ended in failure.

The “de-escalation zones” will be closed to military aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition, the Russian official who signed the agreement, Alexander Lavrentye, said Friday. Under the plan, Assad’s air force – and presumably Russian, too – would also halt flights over those areas.

In rebel-held Idlib, a protest was held Friday against the plan, denounced as a plot to “divide Syria.”

“Any person or state who enters this land to divide it is the enemy of the Syrian people” activist Abed al-Basset Sarout told the crowd.

Ahmad Rabah, a Syrian refugee from Homs now in Lebanon, said he did not trust Assad’s forces and going back to so-called safe zones would be tantamount to living in a “big prison.”

The Pentagon said the de-escalation agreement would not affect the U.S.-led air campaign against IS.

“The coalition will continue to target ISIS wherever they operate to ensure they have no sanctuary,” said Pentagon spokesman Marine Maj. Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway. ISIS is an alternative acronym for the Sunni militant group.

Rudskoi also suggested that Syrian government forces, freed up as a result of the safe areas, could be rerouted to fight against IS in the central and eastern part of Syria.

Another question left unanswered is how the deal would affect U.S. airstrikes targeting al-Qaida’s positions in Syria.

U.S. warplanes have frequently struck the al-Qaida affiliate in the northern Idlib province, where the militant group dominates.

But under Thursday’s deal, the entire province is designated to be one of the four “de-escalation zones.”

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said that if implemented the deal will allow for the separation of the opposition from IS fighters and those of the al-Qaida affiliate. He did not elaborate.

Syria’s government has said that although it will abide by the agreement, it would continue fighting “terrorism” wherever it exists, parlance for most armed rebel groups fighting government troops.

Berry reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut, Jim Heintz in Moscow and Robert Burs in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Wide parts of Syria have enjoyed relative calm despite sporadic clashes after a deal to set up "de-escalation zones" mostly within opposition-controlled areas went into effect, opposition activists and government media outlets said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties after the plan -- sponsored by Russia, Turkey, and Iran -- went into effect at midnight.

Also on May 6, a text detailing the agreement was published by Russia's Foreign Ministry.

The establishment of safe zones after talks held in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, earlier this week is the latest effort to reduce violence amid a six-year civil war that has left more than 400,000 dead and is the first to envisage armed foreign monitors on the ground in Syria.

However, the United States is not part of the deal, and the Syrian armed opposition refused to sign it, saying that Iran, which it considers a party in the conflict, should not be a guarantor.

According to the text of the document published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on May 6, Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to establish four separate de-escalation zones in Syria for at least six months.

 

 The largest safe zone includes Syria's Idlib Province and adjoining districts of Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia provinces.

The other three zones are in northern Homs Province, the Eastern Ghouta region east of the capital, Damascus, and along the Jordanian border in southern Syria.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran will finalize maps of the de-escalation zones by June 4, and the agreement can be extended automatically if the three guarantors agree.

The memorandum provides for halting the hostilities between Syrian government forces and armed opposition groups within the safe zones, allowing humanitarian access, medical assistance, as well as the return of displaced civilians to their homes and the restoration of damaged infrastructure.

The three guarantor states will continue fighting Islamic State, the Al-Nusra Front, and other groups both within and beyond the de-escalation zones, according to the document.

Russia and Iran are key allies of President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Political and armed opposition groups in Syria have rejected the proposal, saying Russia has been unwilling or unable to get Assad and his Iranian-backed militia allies to respect past cease-fires.

Turkey is a major backer of opposition factions and has also sent troops into northern Syria.

It is also not clear how the safe zones will be enforced.

Russian Colonel General Sergei Rudskoi told reporters on May 5 that personnel from Russia, Iran, and Turkey will operate checkpoints and observation posts.

An official with Russia's military general staff said other countries may eventually have a role in enforcing the de-escalation areas.

Meanwhile, there were limited reports of bombing in northern Homs and Hama, and the southern province of Daraa, areas expected to be part of the "de-escalation zones," activists said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Still, opposition activists in southern, central, and northern Syria said the situation so far is better than previous days, with no air strikes reported.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media reported there was "relative calm" in the "de-escalation zones" nine hours after the deal went into effect.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has activists around the country, said government helicopter gunships dropped three barrel bombs on the rebel-held Latamneh area in central Syria, where fighting was reported between rebels and troops.

Government forces also bombarded rebel-held neighborhoods of Damascus, the observatory said.

"Despite some violations, the situation is much calmer than before," said opposition activist Mohammed al-Homsi, speaking via Skype from northern Syria.

 

 Syrian, Russian, Turkish, and U.S.-led coalition aircraft sometimes operate in the same areas in Syria. It is not yet clear how the new plan would affect flight paths of coalition warplanes battling IS militants and other radical groups -- and whether U.S. warplanes would abide by a diminished airspace.

The Pentagon said the de-escalation agreement would not affect the U.S.-led air campaign against IS.

A previous cease-fire agreement that went into effect on December 30 helped reduce overall violence in Syria for several weeks but eventually collapsed. Other attempts at a cease-fire in Syria have all ended in failure.</s>MOSCOW — Russia's representative at the Syria talks says the "de-escalation zones" will be closed to military aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition.

Alexander Lavrentyev's comments Friday come a day after talks in Kazakhstan, where Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish the zones in Syria. Under the Russian plan, President Bashar Assad's air force would halt flights over the designated areas across the war-torn country.

Lavrentyev suggested that all military aircraft, including Russian and Turkish, are prohibited. Full details of Thursday's agreement have not yet been released.

Lavrentyev, whose remarks were carried by Russian news agencies, said U.S.-led coalition aircraft would be able to operate against the Islamic State group in specific areas, but the "de-escalation zones" were now closed to their flights.

The agreement is the latest attempt to reduce violence in the Arab country.</s>A pact reached by Russia, Iran and Turkey to create de-escalation zones came into force in Syria at midnight local time (21:00GMT) on Saturday, in a bid to shore up ceasefire and allow for a safe return of refugees.

The four zones span the northwestern Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, the north of the central Homs province, Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, as well as southern Daraa and Quneitra regions.

The Syrian government has agreed to stop fighting in the designated areas, although some armed opposition members walked out of Astana talks in protest at the agreement.

The deputy chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov said later the UN’s special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura had convinced Syrian opposition forces of the importance of safe zones.</s>A deal to set up “de-escalation zones” has taken effect, but the plans for those areas could prove to be difficult to enforce.

The deal took effect at midnight Saturday local time but could take around a month until the safe zones are actually established, Russian officials said. And a new plan will prevent U.S. and coalition forces from flying over them.

The plan seeking to establish four safe zones was agreed upon by Russia, Turkey and Iran in cease-fire talks in Kazakhstan on Thursday. But the U.S. hasn’t agreed to abide by the restriction.

SYRIA CEASE-FIRE TALKS: RUSSIA, IRAN AND TURKEY AGREE ON ‘DE-ESCALATION’ ZONES

Instead, the Pentagon has said that the de-escalation agreement won’t affect the U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State fighters, The Washington Post reported.

"The coalition will continue to target ISIS wherever they operate to ensure they have no sanctuary," Pentagon spokesman Marine Maj. Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway stated.

Russian officials have told reporters that they want to restore a deal with the U.S. to coordinate air operations in Syria in order to cut the risk of accidents. A deal between the two countries was nixed in April following a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base. That was in response to a chemical gas attack in the country that was blamed on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

But Russian official Alexander Lavrentyev has said that the former plan may not be renewed.

“The operation of aviation in the de-escalation zones, especially of the forces of the international coalition, is absolutely not envisaged, either with notification or without,” he said. “This question is closed."

Instead, Lavrentyev said, the U.S.-led coalition aircraft would be permitted to target ISIS in specific areas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>De-escalation zones in Syria will be closed for warplanes of US-led international coalition, Russian envoy says.

The safe zones that regional powers have agreed to create in Syria will be closed for military planes of the international US-led coalition, Russia's envoy to Syria talks said.

Turkey and Iran agreed on Thursday to Russia's proposal for "de-escalation zones", a move welcomed by the United Nations but met with scepticism from the United States and Syrian rebel groups.

Speaking from the Syria summit in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Thursday, Russian envoy Alexander Lavrentyev said that Syrian government fighter jets are also not expected to fly over the "de-escalation" zones for six months.

Russian military aircraft will refrain from flying over such areas, he added, unless there are what he described as attempts to destabilise the situation.

With the air space closed over these so called safe areas, they would become de facto no-fly zones. Calls for such a measure have been made numerous times by opposition members, but it has never been imposed until now.

Previous regions considered for no-fly zones were the border areas with Jordan and Turkey.

Military analysts estimated that the no-fly zone imposed over Iraq in 1991 helped save countless lives. It is unclear though who will be responsible for policing the air space and what the consequences would be for breaking the interdiction.

The latest round of Syrian peace talks in Astana is sponsored by opposition supporter Turkey and Syrian government backers Russia and Iran.

Neither the Syrian government, nor the opposition had signed the de-escalation zones agreement. Representatives of several rebel groups say they cannot accept Iran as a guarantor of the deal.

Syria's civil war, currently in its seventh year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has drawn in world powers on all sides.

The negotiations in Astana are viewed as complementary to broader United Nations-brokered talks in Geneva on a political settlement, but neither have yielded real progress as of yet.</s>(This version of the story corrects the second paragraph to clarify Idlib is not the first de-escalation zone)

Internally displaced people who fled Raqqa city carry their belongings as they leave a camp in Ain Issa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria May 4, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - A de-escalation agreement in Syria takes effect at midnight but Russia’s air force will continue strikes against Islamic State elsewhere in the country, Russian news agencies cited the Defense Ministry as saying on Friday.

The largest of the four de-escalation zones is in northern Syria and includes Idlib province and adjoining districts of Latakia, Aleppo and Hama with a total population of over 1 million, the ministry said.

Iran and Turkey agreed on Thursday to Russia’s proposal to establish the de-escalation zones.

But details of the memorandum the three guarantors signed were sketchy, while the main Syrian opposition group said it lacked all legitimacy.

The zones appear intended to halt conflict in specific areas between government forces and rebels, and would potentially be policed by foreign troops.

The fact that the de-escalation agreement was supported by the United Nations, the United States and Saudi Arabia guaranteed its implementation, the RIA and Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin as saying.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters the U.S.-led coalition in Syria had not altered its operations, but declined to comment on the de-escalation zones.

With the help of Russia and Iranian-backed militias, the Syrian government has gained the military upper hand against rebel groups, including some supported by Turkey, the U.S. and Gulf monarchies.

The government supported the de-escalation plan, but said it would continue to fight what it termed terrorist groups.

Rebels have rejected the deal and said they would not recognize Iran as a guarantor of any ceasefire plan.

The main Syrian opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee, cautioned against attempts to “partition the country through vague meanings of what have been called ... ‘de-escalation’ zones”.

The Russian-led deal “was concluded without the Syrian people” and “lacks the minimum basics of legitimacy”, it said in a statement.

The Riyadh-based HNC, which includes political and armed groups, said it remained committed to the U.N.-led peace process in Geneva and called for its revival.

Mohammed Rasheed, a spokesman for the Jaish al-Nasr group, said rebels doubted Russian or Syrian government warplanes would stop striking opposition areas after the deal takes effect.

“This is not the first time,” he added, referring to several mediated ceasefires that have unravelled in Syria’s multi-sided conflict.

“As long as the jets are bombing civilians, then there are no signs of any ceasefire,” Rasheed said. “When they stop, then we can work on political solutions.”</s>Following the U.S. airstrike in Syria last month, Russia and Iran issued a joint statement saying further U.S. action in Syria would be answered with retaliatory force. Thursday, Russia, Iran, and Turkey agreed to create four “de-escalation zones” in Syria, creating a temporary cease fire as well as safe areas for civilians to flee areas controlled by ISIS. Russia announced Friday that as part of the agreement, U.S.-led coalition aircraft will be banned from flying over the four de-escalation zones.

Under the plan, all military aircraft, including Russian and Turkish, are prohibited and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s air force would be in charge of ensuring other nations comply with the no-fly zone rules. According to Russian official Alexander Lavrentyev, U.S.-led coalition aircraft as well as aircraft from other nations would be able to engage ISIS in other areas:

Lavrentyev, whose remarks were carried by Russian news agencies, said “the operation of aviation in the de-escalation zones, especially of the forces of the international coalition, is absolutely not envisaged, either with notification or without. This question is closed.”

The new rule is already being supported by the United Nations. In a statement, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the organization “welcomes the commitments to ceasing the use of all weapons, particularly aerial assets.”

The Russian agreement is the latest attempt to curb violence in Syria. A previous cease-fire signed in December 2016 collapsed after several weeks. Opposition to this new agreement protested Iran’s involvement as a guarantor of the deal, for Iran is accused of encouraging sectarian fighting in Syria.
Russia, Iran and Turkey reach an agreement, effective this midnight, to establish four "safe zones" in Syria over which all military aircraft, including Turkish, Russian, and American aircraft, will be barred from flying.