The US and Russia have agreed a peace deal for Syria, with a nationwide ceasefire between government forces and rebel groups set to begin early next week. Speaking in Geneva in the early hours of Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement would be a “turning point” for the war-torn country if implemented, and suggested it could also lead at last to the removal of President Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Kerry said the plan was intended "to reduce violence, ease suffering and resume movement towards a negotiated peace and a political transition in Syria."

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) gestures as he speaks while he arrives with Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov (R) prior to a meeting to discuss the Syrian crisis on September 9, 2016, in Geneva (Getty)

The arrangement is set to go into effect with a cessation of hostilities from sunset next Monday, 12 September, between the Syrian government forces of President Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Russia, and US-backed opposition rebels. The deal requires both the rebels and the regime in Damascus “to meet their obligations,” Mr Kerry said.

Despite simmering tensions between Washington and Moscow, the US and Russian militaries will then work together to target Islamic State forces and the al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate that is operating in Syria. Mr Kerry insisted the terror groups would have to be pursued “not indiscriminately, but in a systematic way.”

The agreement calls for Assad to ground his air force over opposition areas and halt combat missions against specified rebel forces. Following a period of calm and attempts to gather intelligence on the two terror groups, the US and Russia then plan to launch joint air strikes against Isis and the al-Nusra Front.

Friday’s negotiations at a hotel in Geneva had stretched long into the night. Mr Kerry announced the agreement shortly after Saturday at a joint press conference with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who confirmed the deal and emphasised that Assad’s government was prepared to comply with its terms.

“This is not the end of the journey, this is the very start of our new relations,” Mr Lavrov said. “We hope that all those who sincerely value peace, who cherish a Syrian, multinational, multi-confessional state, will support our agreement."

The marathon meeting was the fourth such encounter between US and Russian diplomats in the past fortnight, as the world strained to see whether there might at last be a formula for ending the five-year civil war in Syria, which has already claimed 500,000 lives and triggered the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

In pictures: Aleppo bombing Show all 14 1 /14 In pictures: Aleppo bombing In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Smoke rises after airstrikes on the rebel-held al-Sakhour neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family runs for cover amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Qatarji in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016. Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damage of the airstrikes in the rebel-held area of Aleppo on April 28 Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo The damaged the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)-backed al-Quds hospital after it was hit by airstrikes, in a rebel-held area of Syria's Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians evacuate an injured man amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following an air strike on a rebel-held of Aleppo on April 29, 2016. AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A man leads a woman in tears and child out of the scene after airstrikes hit Aleppo AP In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Civil defence members search for survivors after an airstrike at a field hospital in the rebel held area of al-Sukari district of Aleppo Reuters In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported air strike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Soukour in the northern city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo A Syrian family walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported air strike in the Bustan al-Qasr rebel-held district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers and rescuers remove a baby from under the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held neighbourhood of al-Kalasa in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrians help a wounded youth following an air strike on the Fardous rebel held neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo Getty Images In pictures: Aleppo bombing Bombing in Aleppo Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate people from a damaged building following a reported airstrike in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Tareeq al-Bab in the northern city of Aleppo

Fighting between rebels and Assad’s forces has recently reached new levels of ferociousness in and around the divided northern city of Aleppo, where human rights groups report the conflict has claimed more than 700 civilian lives in the last 40 days, including 165 children. The deal calls for unimpeded humanitarian access to all of Syria’s worst afflicted areas, including Aleppo.