Russia deploying forces to police Syria safe zones

Russia is deploying military police to monitor two safe zones being established in Syria, the defense ministry in Moscow says.

Senior commander Sergei Rudskoi says Russian forces had set up checkpoints and observation posts around a zone in the south-west and in another one covering Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus.

The two areas are part of a broader Moscow-backed plan to create four “de-escalation zones” in rebel-held parts of Syria.

The announcement marks the first deployment of foreign troops to bolster the safe zones as Moscow seeks to pacify Syria after its military intervention swung the six-year conflict in favor of President Bashar Assad.

— AFP