Kerry: Provisional agreement reached on cease-fire in Syria

Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan

Secretary of State John Kerry said today that a "provisional agreement" has been reached on a Syrian cease-fire that could begin in the next few days, but he acknowledged that it's not finalized and all parties might not automatically comply.

Explosions meanwhile ripped through the central Syrian city of Homs and a Damascus suburb today, killing nearly 100 people, and government forces backed by Russian warplanes pressed a major offensive north of Aleppo that has undermined previous efforts to halt the fighting.

Kerry said he discussed the terms of a cease-fire with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and said the two must now reach out to the opposing forces in the conflict. He declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it "is not yet done."

"The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed," Kerry said. "A cessation of hostilities ... is possible over the course of these next hours." He said he hoped U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk soon and that implementation could then begin.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov and Kerry spoke on the phone Sunday for a second day in a row and discussed "the modality and conditions" for a cease-fire that would exclude groups that the U.N. Security Council considers terrorist organizations.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published Sunday that 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," Assad told Spain's El Pais newspaper.