FOREIGN backers of the warring sides in Syria have reached a tentative agreement that could see the end of the nearly five-year civil war in the country.

Neither Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government nor the armed rebels seeking to overthrow him were at the 19-nation talks in Vienna.

But Russia and the US were able to present a united plan to end the conflict that has killed more than 250,000 and turned the country into a beacon for jihadist terrorists.