US and Russia agree Syria ceasefire to start on Saturday

US officials said the US and Russia have agreed a plan for a ceasefire in Syria starting on Saturday that would exclude attacks on the Islamic State (IS) group and al-Qaida’s local affiliate.

The officials said that the two superpowers have agreed on the terms and conditions for the “cessation of hostilities”.

The announcement caps 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 last month after the Syrian government launched a massive offensive backed by Russian airstrikes in the northern province of Aleppo, near the Turkish border.

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

Even if a truce were to take hold, IS would not be a party to it.

Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry spoke two more times by telephone on Sunday and agreed on the parameters for the ceasefire.

The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said this week is shaping up as “crucial” for diplomatic efforts to help end the fighting, though he declined to provide details of the negotiations.