Some hope, finally?

The Astana peace talks brokered by Russia and Turkey appear to be in precarious position due to the fact that the ceasefire between Damascus and the rebel forces, painstakingly brokered by Moscow and Ankara, is often violated.

As such, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday in Moscow that the first order of business if the conference is to be convened is to “consolidate the fragile ceasefire in Syria”.

He also pointed out that working to put an end to the conflict in Syria will never be successful are held.

This mean that foreign powers that wage a proxy war in Syria — Russia and Iran — need to exert effort to rein in both the armed forces that support the Damascus regime and their allies, including the Iranian militias and those belonging to Hizbollah.

In the case of the opposition — difficult to identify, granted —it has to refrain from launching attacks that are perceived as a breach of ceasefire. That involves orders from the heads of the myriad groupings that call themselves legitimate representatives of the oppressed Syrian people, quite difficult to coordinate, no doubt.

The second objective at Astana, said Lavrov, is “involvement” of rebel field commanders in the political process.

In other words, those who hold the guns need to engage in the peace talks, for, without their full participation and consent, no political agreement can last.

These have been the lessons of the past efforts to negotiate a settlement to the Syrian conflict, and they seem to have been learned.

And fortunately, both the Syrian government and the Higher Negotiation Committee, the main Syrian opposition umbrella group, appear to be in agreement about the prerequisites of the upcoming Astana peace talks, a first step towards bringing about an end to the fighting, first, and peace, later.

Given the commitment Moscow and Ankara show to making the Astana peace talks a success, there is hope that this time around the beginning of the end of the Syrian conflict is finally within reach.