TASS- The three guarantor countries’ monitoring mission would be deployed basing on the maps approved in Ankara on September 8

Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed to set up a coordination center for de-escalation zones in Syria, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Friday at a plenary session of the Astana international meeting on Syria.

"[The guarantor countries] are creating a joint Iranian-Russian-Turkish coordination center for coordinating activities in the de0-escalation zones," Abdrakhmanov said, reading out the joint declaration that the guarantor countries had approved at the Astana talks.

The document says that the three guarantor countries’ monitoring mission would be deployed basing on the maps approved in Ankara on September 8.

It will be done "under the mandate, drafted by the joint working de-escalation group, for provisional deployment of the forces monitoring de-escalation in security area of the de-escalation zone in the Idlib province and in certain parts of neighboring provinces (Latakia, Hama and Aleppo) with the aim to prevent incidents and fighting between the warring sides (the government of the Syrian Arab Republic and units of the armed opposition that have already agreed to or will agree to the cessation of hostilities agreement)," says the statement read out by the Kazakh foreign minister.

De-escalation zones in Syria

At the Astana meeting on Syria in May, the guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire (Russia, Iran and Turkey) signed a memorandum on setting up de-escalation zones in the war-torn country.

The de-escalation zones include the Idlib Province, some parts of its neighboring areas in the Latakia, Hama and Aleppo Provinces north of the city of Homs, Eastern Ghouta, as well as the Daraa and al-Quneitra Provinces in southern Syria.

Starting from May 6, military activities and aircraft flights in the de-escalation zones are banned. Three de-escalation zones have already been established, while the fourth zone in the Idlib Province is being set up.

The document’s term is six months, with an optional further extension.