Syrian peace process

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Part of a series on the Syrian civil war
Syrian peace process
History Start of Syrian Revolution 2011 Arab League initiatives I and II 2011–12 Churkin peace plan 2012 Kofi Annan peace plan (Geneva I) 2012 Lakhdar Brahimi peace plan 2012 U.S.–Russia peace proposal (2013) 2013 Geneva II Mideast peace conference 2014 Staffan de Mistura peace plan 2015 Zabadani agreement 2015 Vienna talks 2015 Geneva III 2016 US-Russia ceasefire proposal (2016) 2016 Geneva IV 2017 Idlib demilitarization 2018 Northern Syria Buffer Zone 2019 Second Northern Syria Buffer Zone 2019 Syrian Constitutional Committee 2019 Syrian-Turkish normalization 2022–24 Fall of the Assad regime 2024 Syrian caretaker government 2024–25 Syrian Revolution Victory Conference 2025 Syrian National Dialogue Conference 2025 Syrian transitional government 2025
Primary concerns Ba'athist Syria under Bashar al-Assad Human rights Humanitarian aid Israeli invasion of Syria (2024–present) Refugees Secularism in Syria Sectarianism Syrian caretaker government Syrian transitional government
Secondary concerns Electricity supply Water supply Control of oil Situation in Aleppo Siege of Madaya
Peace brokers Peace envoy for Syria (United Nations) UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian affairs Arab League Syrian caretaker government Syrian transitional government
Proposals Federalization of Syria Destruction of Chemical Weapons Constitution amendment: Constitution of Syria Constitution of Rojava Interim Constitution of Syria Safe Zones
Projects Friends of Syria Group Free Syrian University Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently
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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, all major revolutionary factions of the Syrian revolution united to form the Syrian transitional government.

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.^[1] 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.^[2][3] 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.^[4] The Kazakh officials offered Astana as a neutral venue and "a natural home" for peace negotiations on Syria.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8][9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11][12] 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".^[13] On 10 March 2025, an agreement was signed to integrate the SDF into the structures of the transitional government.^[14]