The Syrian opposition and the Damascus regime may, just may, start serious business after initial signs from the recent Geneva talks suggested that they remain hopelessly too far apart.
Expectation that this might be the case is the result of the fact that the opposition submitted a carefully drafted vision for post-conflict Syria incorporating proposals for the formation of a transitional governing body with wide powers, including overseeing a UN-monitored ceasefire and the expulsion of all foreign fighters.
The opposition’s roadmap made no reference to the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad, a development that gives hope that the peace negotiations under the auspices of UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi may lead to some solution to the Syrian crisis.
The opposition, it seems, has come to the conclusion that the best way to deal with Assad is simply to avoid mentioning him.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad quickly welcomed the suggestion to expel all foreign fighters, saying that “we are not closed to discussing any issue. But we have to discuss them one at a time”.
The eviction of all foreign fighters, who belong to different ethnic, religious and sectarian groups, must agree in principle with Damascus’ central concern of stopping the terrorists’ fight before moving on to other issues.
Damascus has long said that foreign warriors fighting on the side of the opposition are “terrorists”.
Of course, no one has come up yet with an acceptable definition of “terrorism”, which in its broadest context would include the indiscriminate killing of people, as when chemical weapons are used or when barrel bombs are dropped over populated areas.
Still, to his credit, Mekdad also made ending violence and the killing of people his government’s priority concern at this stage.
The fact that the two sides have found some preliminary common ground for pushing their thus far fruitless talks gives hope that this could develop into a breakthrough of sorts on which to build further talks between the two parties and, hopefully, arrive at a peaceful solution for the crisis in Syria.
It may be that the two fighting parties have finally reached the commonsensical conclusion that ending the bloodshed and the destruction should be their first priority.
The Syrian people deserve to live in peace, and this is what they should get, the soonest.
