UN steps up diplomatic push ahead of Syria truce deadline

The 15 members of the Security Council hope to adopt the text on Friday when UN envoy Staffan de Mistura will report on efforts to silence the guns and revive peace talks.

Russia and the United States have set a deadline of midnight Damascus time on Friday for the "cessation of hostilities" between President Bashar al-Assad's government and rebel forces.

The deal - which excludes the Islamic State (IS) group and other UN classified "terrorist" groups - marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to help end the five-year conflict in Syria which has claimed more than 270,000 lives and displaced more than half of the population.

But with fighting still raging and previous attempts stillborn, US President Barack Obama was quick to sound a note of caution on Wednesday. A previous ceasefire that was due to come into force last Friday failed to materialise after Moscow said it would keep fighting "terrorists" a term it has used to describe a broad range of Syrian opposition groups. 

"We are very cautious about raising expectations on this," Obama said in the Oval Office, where he was hosting Jordan's King Abdullah II.

"The situation on the ground is difficult," he said. "But we have seen modest progress over the course of the last week or so with respect to humanitarian access to populations that are threatened."

Russia and the United States are on opposing sides of the conflict, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington supporting the opposition, but the two powers have been making a concerted push for the ceasefire to be respected.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Russian and US officials would meet in coming days to form a taskforce to monitor implementation of the ceasefire.

Assad assurance

The Kremlin said Assad had assured President Vladimir Putin of "the readiness of the Syrian government to facilitate the establishment of a ceasefire".

Putin and Assad also "stressed the importance of continuing an uncompromising fight" against IS, al-Nusra Front and "other terrorist groups," the Kremlin said.

The agreement allows military action to continue against IS, which seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, the al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra and other hardline groups.

Syria's army said it will exclude the bastion of Daraya near Damascus from the ceasefire because rebel forces there included "terrorists". 

The Russian defence ministry said it was in talks with rebel groups in five Syrian provinces - Hama, Homs, Latakia, Damascus and Daraa - on implementing the deal.

Syria's main opposition grouping said on Wednesday it would respect a provisional ceasefire in Syria "for two weeks", ahead of the proposed start of the truce this weekend.

"The High Negotiations Committee believes a provisional truce for two weeks would provide a chance to determine the commitment of the other side" to the ceasefire, the group said in a statement. 

The Kremlin also said that Putin had discussed the deal with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Saudi Arabia is a key member of the US-led coalition and has long supported forces opposed to Assad.

Tehran also Wednesday expressed faith that its ally Damascus would stand by the deal.

Russia and Iran are Assad's key international backers, with Moscow accused of using its air strikes to support government advances and Tehran deploying military advisors and volunteers to fight with government troops.

A US-led coalition has been carrying out air raids against IS in Syria and Iraq since the summer of 2014 and Russia launched its own strikes against "terrorists" last September.