The United States and Russia made a deal Saturday to destroy Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons by mid-2014, news sources reported.

Syria must give up information about its weapons arsenal within a week, according to a media note from the U.S. Department of State.

The deal is a "victory" that avoids war, a Syrian official said, BBC News reported.

The agreement was announced after three days of discussion in Geneva by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, BBC News reported.

Though the agreement avoids American military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, the United States is still prepared to strike if diplomacy fails, the Associated Press reported.

President Barack Obama had threatened Syria with limited military intervention in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack by the Assad government in August, which killed hundreds, BBC News reported.