14 May, 2017
"These de-escalation zones, as I have seen them on the map, are in Western Syria and not in areas where ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] is active", he said.
Syrian opposition forces have not signed on to the deal and walked out of the Kazakhstan talks in protest over previous violations by Assad forces and their Russian supporters.
The deal aims to establish the zones for six months and are meant to enforce the cessation of all hostilities between government and opposition fighters. However, in some areas there have been local, unsubstantial clashes.
"Apart from a few exchanges and bombardments during the night and in the morning in Hama, Damascus and Aleppo provinces, violence was sharply reduced in the areas covered by the deal", Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Rebel commander Jamil al-Saleh, in northern Hama, said that almost an hour after the deal went into effect, battles raged with government forces.
No-fly zones have been a contentious issue in the Syrian conflict, now in its seventh year; they have always been requested by rebel groups and rejected by the government.
The Britain-based Observatory said a child was killed in government shelling in parts of Homs province that fall within the de-escalation zones, the first civilian death in the zones since the deal began coming into effect.
Rebels rejected the deal and said they would not recognise Iran as a guarantor of any ceasefire plan.
The Observatory said government forces shelled and bombed the nearby town of Latamneh and surrounding areas.
The Syrian military have so far not commented on the issue.
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.
Rasheed said rebel-held Idlib province to the north of Hama was nearly completely quiet, but the attacks, which included barrel bombs, were focused on the northern Hama frontline area.
Activist Ibrahim al-Idlibi, who is based in Idlib, said the situation was calm in the province, which has been the target of daily raids by regime and Russian planes for the past few months. The text of the memorandum was published by the Russian foreign ministry on Saturday.
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 agreement to create de-escalation zones in Syria came into force today. The UN did not broker the deal but has expressed its support.
Iranian ِِDeputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari (C) attends the fourth round of Syria peace talks in Astana on May 4, 2017.
The State Department said it welcomed any "genuine" effort to reduce fighting but said it continued to "have concerns about the Astana agreement, including involvement of Iran as a so-called "guarantor".
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".
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.