CBC: There is a plan to end the war in Syria — and it might even work

Barack Obama and Russia's Vladimir Putin have a rare, and intense, one on one at the G20
summit in Turkey last week. Much of the discussion there dealt with ISIS and the war in Syria.

Something is definitely stirring at the Vienna talks aimed at ending Syria's vicious civil war and it looks suspiciously like hope — however hard it is to credit any positive news these days. ... No doubt the atrocity in Paris just over a week ago has had something to do with this.

Key Concessions

Key players on opposite sides of the conflict — such as Russia and the U.S. — seem to realize that this war is now feeding jihadist violence that is threatening all nations. So they've started making concessions to arrive at a common roadmap for the differing Syrian factions to follow.

Simplified greatly, the object is to get a ceasefire and some sort of collaboration between the Assad regime and the so-called moderate rebels by as early as January no less. Then, using this transitional truce and lots of UN help, seek a new Syrian constitution to arrive at national elections and a new government within 18 months.

To get the process this far, concessions have been required. Western partners have dropped the "Assad must go" demand as the two main backers of his regime, Russia and Iran, were unwavering in their insistence that Bashar al-Assad must at least be part of the initial transitional administration.

At the same time, it seems clear that both Moscow and Tehran have told Assad that his time in power is limited. He's being pushed to prepare for power-sharing with rebels, and will likely exit as any new constitution and elections loom.

The tricky bit here involves getting Russia and Iran to deliver the Assad government to the process, and for Obama and the West to do the same with the non-jihadists who have been fighting him, an always fractured alliance.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/peace-plan-syria-brian-stewart-1.3328962

Hard to be optimistic about the situation in Syria but one can hope.