Russian Federation says Syria de-escalation deal takes effect at midnight

Syrian state TV said rebels shelled the central government-held town of Mahrade but had no immediate word on casualties. The military also says the deal, which was signed by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Kazakhstan the day before, could be extended to more areas of the war-torn country.

Reacting to the announcement that the "de-escalation zones" will be closed to military aircraft from the US-led coalition, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said the USA military has "not changed or altered our mission in any way".

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad is not a signatory, but its state news agency said it supported the plan.

The Syrian government is reportedly amenable to the proposal, while rebel commanders say they would prefer a nationwide ceasefire.

"We as guarantors will closely monitor all operations", he said.

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".

Fighter jets fired at the rebel-held village of al-Zalakiyat and nearby positions in the northern Hama countryside, where the combatants exchanged shelling, the Britain-based war monitoring group said. The group called on the US and other Arab-allied countries to prevent the implementation of the deal.

Yet, the de-escalation zones agreement was not signed by the Syrian government, nor the opposition.

"The Russians this time are more serious, we sensed it, more than last time", he said.

Osama Abo Zayd, a spokesman for the Syrian military factions at the Kazakhstan talks, said on Friday that it was "incomprehensible" for Iran to act as a guarantor of the deal. Disputes about who can fly planes and when - "subtle professional issues", the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, called them recently - are likely to continue under the new deal. "It will be crucial to see this agreement actually improve the lives of Syrians", UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Russia, Turkey and Iran are to enforce the zones, but Russian general staff official Col. -Gen.

Along the lines of the "de-escalation zones" will be "security zones" with checkpoints and observation posts to monitor and secure access.

Largely this appears to be a case of the USA just being deliberately hard, as none of the safe zones are in areas United States warplanes were operating in the first place. "We are against the division of Syria".

Iran, Russia and Turkey brokered the deal during talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

The agreement would create four cease-fire zones in northern Syria where fighting would stop by Saturday to provide civilians a place to gather to escape the violence and receive food and medical attention.

Russian Federation suspended the communications channel last month after the United States fired a barrage of Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian air base in response to the Syrian military allegedly using chemical weapons in an attack.

The chemical incident prompted the U.S.to fire dozens of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase from which it said the attack had been launched, increasing tensions between the US and Russian Federation.

"Aviation operations, especially by the worldwide coalition forces, are absolutely not envisioned", he said.