US President Barack Obama on Wednesday sounded a note of caution on the pending ceasefire in Syria, saying the situation on the ground remains difficult, AFP reports.
A partial ceasefire between rebels and Bashar al-Assad's forces -- brokered by Moscow and Washington -- is due to take effect this weekend.
"We are very cautious about raising expectations on this," Obama said in the Oval Office, where he was hosting Jordan's King Abdullah.
"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."
"If, over the next several weeks we can see some lessening of the violence... then that provides a basis for a longer term ceasefire both in the North and the South and allows us to move forward to a political transition that ultimately is going to be necessary to bring an end to the civil war in Syria."