US and Russian officials will meet in coming days to form a task force to monitor the implementation of a ceasefire in Syria's civil war, AFP reports.
Secretary of State John Kerry told US lawmakers he had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov earlier in the day about measures to oversee the truce, which is due to come into effect early on Saturday.
"I talked this morning with Foreign Minister Lavrov and we have a team that will be meeting in the next day or so -- the task force for the ceasefire, cessation of hostilities," he said.
"I'm not here to vouch that it's absolutely going to work, but this is the one way that we can end this war," he warned.
"The alternative is that the war gets worse, that Syria might be totally destroyed, not able to be put back together again."
US officials have repeatedly couched the promised ceasefire as a test of Russia's good faith in seeking a negotiated end to the conflict pitting Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad's regime and Russian warplanes against am array of rebel factions.