The Syrian peace process is the ensemble of initiatives and plans to resolve the Syrian civil war. Peace talks were unsuccessful from 2011 until the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024. Between December 2024 and March 2025, a Syrian transitional government was formed, though it was largely dominated by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and excluded several major political and regional factions.
Plans for a negotiated peace between Ba'athist Syria and the Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad were ultimately unsuccessful. They began in 2011 with unsuccessful initiatives by the Arab League, the UN Special Envoy on Syria, Russia and Western powers. The negotiating parties were representatives of the Syrian regime and the Syrian opposition. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) was excluded at the insistence of Turkey. In January 2012 and November 2013, Russia suggested talks in Moscow between the Syrian government and the opposition. In March–May 2012, hopes were raised by a United Nations/Arab League plan coordinated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January and February 2014, the Geneva II Conference on Syria took place, organized by then-UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. On 30 October 2015, further talks started in Vienna involving officials from the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, and various regional actors such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and, for the first time, Iran. Peace talks with rebel leadership continued in Astana, Kazakhstan in 2017. The Kazakh officials offered Astana as a neutral venue and "a natural home" for peace negotiations on Syria. The latest major effort to bring about an end to the war started in October 2019 in Geneva with the convening of the Syrian Constitutional Committee to draft a new constitution for Syria under the auspices of the United Nations. The Assad regime's refusal to engage in the peace process was rendered moot by 2024 Syrian opposition offensives which toppled the regime in 11 days.
The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 led to the creation of the Syrian transitional government and renewed negotiations for peace between all the revolutionary factions. On 11 December 2024, the Syrian transitional government began negotiations to dissolve all non-state armed groups in the country. The DAANES remained autonomous after the fall of the Assad regime, while its military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), began clashing with the new military, which included former Syrian National Army (SNA) factions. On 29 December 2024, Ahmed al-Sharaa stated in a televised interview that SDF would be integrated into Syria's Ministry of Defense and that negotiations were underway. On 30 January 2025, Abdurrahman Mustafa, head of the Syrian Interim Government (SIG) in northern Syria, congratulated Ahmed al-Sharaa after he declared himself president during the Syrian Revolution Victory Conference. It was also announced that the SIG was to be at the disposal of the transitional government. The transitional government started to deploy its forces into the areas under the SIG control in February, as the SNA started to integrate into the newly formed Syrian Army. Government forces started to dismantle barracks and other military infrastructure in the area. On 12 February 2025, al-Shaara met with representatives of the Syrian National Coalition and the Syrian Negotiation Commission, including their respective presidents Hadi al-Bahra and Bader Jamous. It was announced that both organizations would dissolve within the new authorities. On 12 February, Minister for Foreign Affairs Asaad al-Shaibani announced that a new government would be formed by 1 March, which "will represent the Syrian people as much as possible and take its diversity into account". On 10 March 2025, an agreement was signed to integrate the SDF into the structures of the transitional government.
Timeline Arab League peace plans 2011–2012
In November 2011–January 2012, the Arab League (AL) twice tried to accomplish an end to Syrian government (and opposition) violence and convince both parties to start talks instead of fighting.
After the Syrian government's agreement to the AL plan of 19 December the AL sent a monitoring mission to Syria. Violence continued and Saudi Arabia on 22 January withdrew its monitors from the mission, and called on Russia, China and all other states to pressure Syria strongly to adhere to the AL peace plan. The Arab League on 28 January 2012 ended its monitoring mission.
Russian peace initiatives for Syria
2012 'informal talks' proposal On 30 January 2012, the Russian foreign ministry suggested "informal" talks in Moscow between the Syrian government and opposition, and said the Syrian authorities had already agreed to the Russian offer. Abdel Baset Seda, a member of the Syrian National Council's executive committee, told Reuters that the SNC had not received any formal invitation for such talks, but would decline if one arrived: "Our position has not changed and it is that there is no dialogue with (President Bashar al-Assad)".
February 2012: offering the removal of Assad In February 2012, Martti Ahtisaari held talks with envoys of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. During those discussions, the Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, proposed a three-point plan that would bring the Syrian government and opposition to the negotiation table and result in Assad stepping down as president. But, according to Ahtisaari, the US, Britain, and France rejected that proposal, being convinced that fall of Assad's government was inevitable. "It was an opportunity lost in 2012," he said in an interview in September 2015. Other Western diplomats refute Ahtisaari's claims, with one stating, "I very much doubt the P3 [the US, UK and France] refused or dismissed any such strategy offer at the time. The questions were more to do with sequencing—the beginning or end of process—and with Russia's ability to deliver—to get Assad to step down."
Brokerage Proposal, 2013 On 7 November 2013, Russia again announced it was trying to broker talks in Moscow between the Syrian government and opposition, seeing that the U.S. and Russian negotiators failed to agree on whether or not Assad should be forced out of office.Canceled Syria talks may get new start in Moscow , USA Today, 7 November 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov said, the Moscow talks could focus on humanitarian problems as well on some political issues.
Friends of Syria Group, February 2012
In February 2012, the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy initiated an international "contact group" to find a solution for the Syrian conflict, after Russia and China had vetoed a 4 February 2012 UN Security Council resolution. The group held four meetings, all in the year 2012.
Kofi Annan Peace Plan, March 2012
The Kofi Annan peace plan (Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League), launched in March 2012, intended to commit both the Syrian government and opposition to a cease fire and commit the Syrian government to initiate deliberations with the opposition on their aspirations and concerns. After Annan on 12 April had assumed that both parties had agreed to a cease fire, the UN already on 1 May had to admit that both parties were violating it.
Geneva I, June 2012 An "action group" conference (now referred to as Geneva I Conference on Syria) was held on Saturday 30 June 2012, in Geneva, initiated by the then UN peace envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, and attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, a representative of China, British Foreign Secretary Hague, and Kofi Annan. Mr Annan, issuing a communiqué, said that the conference agreed on the need for a "transitional government body with full executive powers" which could include members of the present Syrian government and of the opposition. William Hague said that all five permanent members of the UN Security Council—the US, Russia, China, France and the UK—supported Mr Annan's efforts. Clinton however suggested that Syrian dictator Assad could, in such transitional government, not remain in power, which immediately was contradicted by Lavrov.
The Geneva talks were condemned by Ahrar al-Sham leader Hassan Abboud.
16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement During the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held from 26 to 31 August 2012 in Tehran, Iran and attended by leaders of 120 countries, Iran intended to draw up a new peace resolution aiming to resolve the Syrian civil war. but a consensus was not reached between the leaders.
Eid al-Adha cease fire attempt, September 2012
Lakhdar Brahimi, an Algerian diplomat, appointed on 1 September 2012, as the new UN–Arab League special representative for Syria, appealed on both the Syrian government and the armed opposition to stop the killing during the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha, which fell that year probably on 26 October 2012, and 3 or 4 days after it. Government and most of the opposition groups said 'yes' to his appeal. Yet, according to Brahimi, the lull in the fighting lasted very short, after which both parties accused the other of not having stopped its violence.
Geneva II, 2014
The Geneva II Middle East peace conference was a United Nations-backed international (peace) conference, aimed at bringing Syrian government and opposition together to discuss a transitional government. Lakhdar Brahimi, UN special envoy to Syria, tried to pursue the conference in close cooperation with the U.S. and Russia. It started on 22 January 2014 and ended on 31 January; no agreement was reached.
Astana Opposition conference (2015) In early April, Randa Kassis asked the Kazakh President to host talks in Astana. President Nursultan Nazarbayev accepted the proposal. This initiative has been criticized by some of Syrian Opposition members. On 25—27 May 2015, a number of Syrian Opposition groups convened in Astana, Kazakhstan The Syrian government chose not to attend.
A second conference was held in Astana on 2–4 October 2015; the assembled Opposition groups adopted a declaration that called for the parliamentary election scheduled for 2016 to be held under the supervision of the international community; Nursultan Nazarbayev was asked to step in as a mediator in the Syrian conflict.Сирийская оппозиция провела конференцию в Астане Regnum.Ru, 4 October 2015.Сирийская оппозиция подписала итоговую декларацию конференции в Астане RIA Novosti, 4 October 2015.
The talks were mediated by Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Askar Mussinov and Director of the French Centre for Political and Foreign Affairs Fabien Baussart. Mme Gulshara Abdykalikova, the Secretary of State of Kazakhstan opened the talks in Astana.
Four Committees Initiative The Four committees initiative is a proposal put forward by United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura on 29 July 2015 as a way to start the peace process in the Syrian civil war. There had been no peace talks on Syria since the Geneva II meetings in early 2014 ended in failure.
Zabadani Ceasefire Agreement
In September 2015 Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government, announced a six-month truce between the rebel-held town of Zabadani near Damascus and two Shia towns in the north-west of Syria. The deal was reached after mediation from Iran.'Hezbollah announces truce covering three Syrian towns' . Al Jazeera, 26 September 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
Vienna Process (since October 2015)
On 23 October 2015, the Foreign Ministers of the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey met and talked in Vienna, Austria, to find a way to end the Syrian conflict.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 October 2015.