REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, DAMASCUS -- Breaches to cease-fire in the central province of Homs were reported on Thursday, activists said.

Violations to the Egyptian-Russian sponsored cease-fire deal that went into force in the northern countryside of Homs witnessed some breaches by both the government forces and the rebels, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The UK-based watchdog group said the government forces and the rebels exchanged fire after the first 10 hours of the cease-fire, which went into effect at 12 p.m. on Thursday.

The Observatory said the Syrian forces opened machine guns and fired mortar shells on several towns in northern Homs. It added that the rebels also targeted government-controlled areas in Homs.

The first 10 hours of the cease-fire was calm in the northern countryside of Homs, the Observatory added.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said a third de-escalation zone in Syria has begun functioning based on an agreement reached last month between the Russian military and the moderate Syrian opposition in Cairo, Egypt.

"Under the agreement, from 12 p.m. local time today (2100 GMT Wednesday), detachments from the moderate opposition and government troops completely stopped fire from all types of weapons," Defense Ministry Spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

The new zone, set up north of the city of Homs in central Syria, includes 84 settlements with a population of more than 147,000 people, he said.

"Starting on Aug. 4, the Russian military police will deploy two border checkpoints and three observation posts in the sections along the contact line on the sides of the Homs de-escalation zone," Konashenkov said.

The agreement does not apply to terrorist groups like the Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front, he added.

Participants in the talks on a peaceful settlement in Syria, held in Astana, Kazakhstan, agreed in early July to set up four de-escalation zones in Syria, in which all kinds of hostilities would halt, aiming to ease tensions in the Middle East country where war has entered its seventh year.

One zone in southwestern Syria and another in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of Damascus have already been established.

It's worth noting that the Syrian government and the army remained tight-lipped on the cease-fire in the northern countryside of Homs, contrary to previous times when the army would declare a cease-fire in the areas agreed upon by Russia and the United States. 

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