Syrian soldiers gesture in the Syrian desert at the countryside of the central Homs province near the Syrian-Iraqi borders, on June 12, 2017.

MOSCOW, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- 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, the Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday.

"Under the agreement, from 12 p.m. local time today (2100 GMT Wednesday), Aug. 3, 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.