MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - The military of Russia, Iran and Turkey are discussing the establishment of a "special zone" promoting de-escalation of tensions in Syria's Afrin in the context of the Kurdish issue, an informed source close to the negotiations told Interfax.
"These negotiations [on setting up a de-escalation zone in Afrin] are being conducted by Russia, Iran and Turkey at the level of the military. The work is being done on the ground," the source said.
The zone will not become the fifth de-escalation area within the Astana process, he said.
"There are no plans for now to create the fifth de-escalation area as a result of the Astana process. The Astana negotiations are expected to yield only four de-escalation areas in Syria," the source said.
"The Afrin zone will be a bit different, special. This is about agreements on the position of Kurds in this region," he said.
A number of Kurdish units are stationed in the Afrin area in the north of Syria.
Syria's four de-escalation areas "have been formed in the course of reconciliation between Syrian opposition forces," the source said, adding "Afrin was not on the table in Astana."
As reported earlier, Russia, Iran and Turkey, the guarantor countries, agreed in Astana to create four de-escalation areas in Syria. One of them is located in southwestern Syria, one in Eastern Ghouta (a suburb of Damascus), one near the Homs city, and one in the Idlib province and parts of the adjoining Aleppo, Latakia and Hama provinces.
The guarantor countries said in the middle of September that all the four areas had been put into practice.