Russia – Brokered De-Escalation Zones Deal Restores Relative Calm to Syria

Relative calm has been reported across most parts of Syria after a deal to set up de-escalation zones in the country went into effect.

According to media outlets on Saturday, there were no immediate reports of casualties after a memorandum signed by Turkey, Iran and Russia, took effect at the stroke of midnight local time on Saturday (2100 GMT on Friday). The co-sponsors have until June 4 to finalize the zones’ borders.

The Syrian Central Military Media reported that there was “relative calm” Saturday morning in the de-escalation zones; nine hours after the deal went into force.

 The deal on de-escalation zones was signed during the fourth round of the Syria peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on Thursday.

Moscow on Wednesday put forward the idea of setting up de-escalation zones in four areas in northern, central and southern Syria, where the most intense fighting is underway between the Syrian army and different militant groups.

The four safe regions are situated across eight of Syria’s 14 provinces. The first zone includes the northwestern province of Idlib, the western province of Latakia, the western-central province of Hama, and the northern province of Aleppo.

The four zones are only safe for the so-called armed opposition factions and exclude the Takfiri terrorist groups of Daesh and the al-Nusra Front.

PRESS T.V

R.S