A source close to peace talks earlier on Saturday told Reuters Syria’s opposition had agreed to a two- to three-week truce.
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The head of the key High Negotiations Committee (HNC) opposition umbrella group said in statement that it would agree to a temporary truce only if regime backers halted fire.
The statement followed a meeting between opposition groups held in Riyadh Saturday, after a deadline set by world powers for a temporary pause in fighting passed.
Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond discussed the ongoing crisis in Syria and progress being made in Geneva by two United Nations task forces one working on a cease-fire and another focused on providing humanitarian aid to besieged areas.
Although the details “are not yet fully agreed upon”, Kerry expressed his hope that a full cessation of hostilities could be achieved in the shortest timeframe possible, Kirby said.
The elusive truce was meant to begin Friday, but failed to do so as fighting raged in Syria with Kurdish-led forces backed by US-led air power seizing a key town from the Islamic State group.
Russian Federation joined the Syrian civil war at the request of Bashar al-Assad and is supporting the regime’s ground forces.
In an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel published Saturday, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the moderate opposition could “neutralize” helicopters and aircraft that have been bombing them.
Al-Jubeir added that the move must be studied carefully, “because you don’t want such weapons to fall into the wrong hands”.
An expert-level meeting on cessation of hostilities in Syria in the framework of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) has been postponed until further notice, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday. “This is not Saudi Arabia’s decision”.
The Kremlin is concerned about growing tensions on the Turkish-Syrian border and views the shelling of Syrian territory by Turkey as unacceptable.
Syria regretted that the representatives of Western countries in the UN Security Council took a stand against the Russia-proposed draft resolution demanding that Turkey and other countries refrain from committing what would be an act of aggression against Syria.
“We can only express regret that this draft resolution was rejected”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Russian Federation has criticized Turkey’s cross-border shelling of a Kurdish militia but was rebuffed in its attempt Friday to introduce a United Nations resolution against such artillery fire.
The draft resolution comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Ankara over the former’s backing of a Syrian regime and Syrian Kurdish armed group Peoples’ Protection Unit (YPG) advance against rebel territory bordering Turkey.
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It accuses the YPG of being the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Ankara.
