Syrian refugees playing in streets of Damascus. Diplomacy has so far been a total failure during a civil war that has killed a quarter of a million people and driven more than 10 million from their homes. (File)
Beirut:
The first visit of a top Syrian official to a Gulf Arab state in more than four years is the strongest sign yet of a new diplomatic push to end the Syrian war, but there are still huge hurdles to face before any peace process can begin.
Diplomacy has so far been a total failure during a civil war that has divided the Middle East, killed a quarter of a million people, driven more than 10 million from their homes and left large swathes of Syria in the hands of Islamic State militants.
The mainly Sunni Muslim Arab states that support the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad have had virtually no productive contact with either Damascus or Assad's main backers, Shia Iran and Russia.
But since a nuclear deal last month between Tehran and world powers, and in the wake of battlefield losses this year by Syrian government forces, signs have emerged of some of the first real dialogue for years.
Syria's foreign minister met his Omani counterpart in Muscat yesterday to discuss the crisis, fresh from a visit to Iran. He was invited to Muscat by Oman, an Arab Gulf state and US ally that has steered clear of the Syria crisis so far, and has acted as a regional conciliator in the past.
"To go to Tehran and then straight to Oman, is significant in itself," a diplomat tracking Syria said. "It is an indication that there is something in the oven. Iran, the United States, they can communicate through the offices of the Omanis."
Diplomats describe a lighter mood since Iran's nuclear deal but said it remained to be seen whether countries involved in the Syrian crisis would use this opportunity.
"It's inching towards some kind of solution," a second diplomat tracking Syria said. If Russia, Iran, the United States and Saudi Arabia made a deal Syria would have to accept it
In another indication of a shift, Russian media and a source in Moscow said the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, long distrustful of Russia over its backing of Assad, was due to visit Moscow next week to meet officials including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Diplomacy has so far been a total failure during a civil war that has divided the Middle East, killed a quarter of a million people, driven more than 10 million from their homes and left large swathes of Syria in the hands of Islamic State militants.
The mainly Sunni Muslim Arab states that support the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad have had virtually no productive contact with either Damascus or Assad's main backers, Shia Iran and Russia.
But since a nuclear deal last month between Tehran and world powers, and in the wake of battlefield losses this year by Syrian government forces, signs have emerged of some of the first real dialogue for years.
Syria's foreign minister met his Omani counterpart in Muscat yesterday to discuss the crisis, fresh from a visit to Iran. He was invited to Muscat by Oman, an Arab Gulf state and US ally that has steered clear of the Syria crisis so far, and has acted as a regional conciliator in the past.
"To go to Tehran and then straight to Oman, is significant in itself," a diplomat tracking Syria said. "It is an indication that there is something in the oven. Iran, the United States, they can communicate through the offices of the Omanis."
Diplomats describe a lighter mood since Iran's nuclear deal but said it remained to be seen whether countries involved in the Syrian crisis would use this opportunity.
"It's inching towards some kind of solution," a second diplomat tracking Syria said. If Russia, Iran, the United States and Saudi Arabia made a deal Syria would have to accept it
In another indication of a shift, Russian media and a source in Moscow said the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, long distrustful of Russia over its backing of Assad, was due to visit Moscow next week to meet officials including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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