US officials confirm new Syria ceasefire pact

US officials have confirmed that the United States and Russia agreed on a plan for a ceasefire in Syria starting Saturday that would exclude attacks on the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda’s local affiliate.

The officials say that the two sides have agreed on the terms and conditions for the “cessation of hostilities.” A formal announcement is expected after presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin speak on the matter by telephone. The officials aren’t authorized to speak about the matter publicly.

The announcement would cap weeks of diplomacy that intensified in the past few days, aimed at reaching a temporary truce that would allow the parties to return to the negotiating table in Geneva.

A first round of indirect talks collapsed rapidly last month after the government launched a massive offensive backed by Russian airstrikes in the northern province of Aleppo, near the Turkish border.

Residents of the Syrian capital earlier expressed skepticism about talk of a “provisional agreement” for a truce, a day after a wave of Islamic State bombings killed about 130 people in government-held areas near Damascus and another city.

Details of the tentative ceasefire between the government and insurgents, announced in Jordan on Sunday by US Secretary of State John Kerry, have not been made public. Even if a truce were to take hold, IS would not be a party to it.

— AP