US and Russia close to Syria truce deal

Ceasefire could begin with days, US secretary of state John Kerry says after two days of talks with Russian foreign minister.

US Secretary of State John Kerry held a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh in Amman, Jordan. Mr Kerry a 'provisional agreement' has been reached on a Syrian ceasefire tShow more

AMMAN // The United States and Russia have reached a provisional agreement on a Syrian ceasefire, the US secretary of state John Kerry said on Sunday, as ISIL bombings in Damascus and Homs killed more than 120 people.

The truce could begin in the next few days, Mr Kerry said after discussing the terms with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

He declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it was “not yet done”.

“The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed,” he said. “We are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been.”

Mr Kerry said he hoped US president Barack Obama and Russian president Vladimir Putin would talk soon and that implementation could then begin.

The Russian foreign ministry said Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry spoke on the phone for a second day in a row on Sunday and discussed “the modality and conditions” for a ceasefire that would exclude groups that the UN Security Council considers terrorist organisations.

Among those groups is ISIL, who claimed responsibility for the blasts in Damascus that killed at least 68 people and the bombings in Homs hours earlier, in which at least 59 people died.

Mr Kerry’s announcement came a day after the High Negotiations Committee, a Syrian opposition bloc comprising political and militant groups, said it would agree to a temporary ceasefire if Syrian president Bashar Al Assad’s main backers, Russia and Iran, guaranteed to stop fighting.

The US, Russia and other world powers agreed on February 12 on a deal calling for suspension of fighting within a week, the delivery of aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace talks in Geneva. Aid shipments were allowed into several areas last week but the deadline for the ceasefire passed with no let-up in the fighting. In interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper published on Sunday, Mr Al Assad said his government was ready to take part in a truce as long as it is not used by militants to reinforce their positions.

“We announced that we’re ready,” Mr Al Assad said. “It’s about preventing other countries, especially Turkey, from sending more recruits, more terrorists, more armaments, or any kind of logistical support to those terrorists,” he said, which was also carried by state news agency SANA.

The Syrian regime refers to all the armed groups battling to overthrow Mr Al Assad as terrorists. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are among the leading regional supporters of the opposition.

Pro-government forces have almost completely surrounded the northern city of Aleppo. He said the operation is not about “recapturing the city. Actually, it’s about closing the roads between Turkey and between the terrorist groups.”

* Agencies