On Friday, the major Syrian opposition groups agreed to peace talks brokered by the UN regarding the almost 7 year, ongoing civil war. This is incredibly significant due to the fact that all of the different opposition groups are finally going to come together to negotiate before President Bashar al-Assad’s regime later in the month. However, these talks have failed to bring an end to the Civil War, though it is unlikely that this will be he last of these talks. Though the Syrian opposition groups call for the resignation of Assad, several factors will likely prevent this. As of 2015, there has been a strong Russian presence in Syria in which supports the Assad regime. Though they have helped with the fight against ISIS, as seen in the bombings on ISIS held territory in NE Syria on Sunday, there presence and endorsement of the Assad regime will likely not diminish. In these bombings, the Russians killed 34 civilians, 15 of which children. atrocities like this are similar to what sparked the civil war back in 2011, telling us that this conflict probably still has some time until it is over. The ousting of ISIS from much of Syria is good news, however predictable, as like the joining of the several resistance forces against Assad in negotiations, lessens the amount of players on the field. Even though these groups have joined for talks, there is no guarantee that any real changes in conflict will occur; Several countries still want a hand in how this situation turns out, and the situation probably won’t get better even if the majority of the fighting were to stop.
