'de-escalation zones'

The four way race to Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of ISIS, is looking increasingly like a race between Kurdish led SDF forces and the Syrian Arab Army.
Turkey is trying its best to keep up while American forces seem to be increasingly content to rely on their Kurdish allies to do the initial dirty work.
However, if and when the Kurds take Raqqa, it is now clear that they intend to expand their territorial holdings deep into currently terrorist controlled Deir ez-Zor. Syrian Kurds have also stated that they intend to push all the way to the Mediterranean.

The Duran’s Adam Garrie recently asked Syrian political commentator Afraa Dagher about her views on the recent Astana Memorandum authorising the creation of so-called de-escalation zones/safe zones.
AG: The Astana Group released a memorandum calling for the creation of so-called Safe Zones in Syria. Many says these zones will allow the Syrian led anti-terrorist coalition to disarm or terminate terrorists though others fear they could evolve into US style no-fly zones that could allow terrorists to colonise parts of Syria.
 What is your reaction to this?

The introduction of “de-escalation” zones in Syria and specifying remarks by Russia’s chief diplomat to the Astana talks Aleksander Lavrentiev have led to the conclusion that Russia has imposed a “no-fly” zone against the US in Syria, but the reality of the matter is much more nuanced than that.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rounded off three days of non-stop diplomacy with a telephone conversation with US President Trump and a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan.  This came directly after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Putin obviously discussed the Syrian conflict with all three.  Moreover it is known that over the course of the same discussions Putin mooted with all three of them – but especially with Trump and Erdogan – a new Russian proposal for something the Russians are calling ‘de-escalation zones’.