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 Meanwhile, violence continued to rage in Syria. Multiple bomb
blasts in a southern district of Damascus killed at least 87 people
on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
said, and twin car bombs killed at least 59 people in Homs, the
monitoring group said.
Russian air strikes launched in September against rebels fighting
President Bashar al-Assad have exacerbated suffering and destruction
in Syria, where a five-year-old civil war has killed more than a
quarter of a million people.
Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire on condition
"terrorists" did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and
that countries backing the insurgents stopped supporting them.
The Syrian opposition had earlier said it had agreed to the
"possibility" of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees
Damascus's allies, including Russia, would cease fire, sieges were
lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.
 "We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms
of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days,"
Kerry told a news conference in Amman with Jordanian Foreign
Minister Nasser Judeh.
"The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being
completed. In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have
been," said Kerry, who was also to meet King Abdullah.
He declined to go into detail about the unresolved issues, saying
the two sides were "filling out the details" of the agreement. And
he indicated issues remained to be resolved and he did not expect
any immediate change on the ground.
He repeated the U.S. position that Assad had to step down. "With
Assad there, this war cannot and will not end," he said.
Assad's fate has been one of the main points of difference between
Washington and Russia, the Syrian leader's main international
backer. Russia recently has begun to say Syrians should decide on
whether Assad should stay or not, but it continues to support
Damascus with air strikes.
OBAMA AND PUTIN TO TALK
Kerry said he had spoken to Lavrov on several occasions, including
earlier on Sunday, and that he anticipated U.S. President Barack
Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk in the coming
days to complete the provisional agreement in principle.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Lavrov and Kerry had spoken
by phone on Sunday about conditions for a ceasefire. It said the
discussions were on conditions that would exclude operations against
organizations "recognized as terrorist by U.N. Security Council".
Those groups include Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra
Front.
Despite the provisional agreement, Kerry did not see an imminent
change in fighting on the ground.
"I do not believe that in the next few days, during which time we
try to bring this into effect, there is somehow going to be a
tipping point with respect to what is happening on the ground ...
The opposition has made clear their determination to fight back," he
said.
The car bombs and suicide attacks on Sunday in the Sayeda Zeinab
district of Damascus, where Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine is
located, were claimed by Islamic State. Suicide attacks last month
in the same district, also claimed by Islamic State, killed 60
people.
The car bombings on Sunday in Homs, in which at least 100 were also
wounded, were among the deadliest in the city in five years of
fighting, the Syrian Observatory said.
Kerry said any deal would take a few days to come together, while
the two sides consulted with other countries and the Syrian
opposition. Russia had to speak to the Syrian government and Iran,
and the United States had to speak to the Syrian opposition and its
partners, Kerry said.
Russia's RIA news agency said on Sunday that Russian Defence
Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Tehran, quoting a source in
the Russian Embassy in Iran. It did not give a reason for the visit.
(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi, Kinda Makieh and Katya
Golubkova; Editing by Richard Balmforth, Larry King)
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