Syrian government negotiators are expected Wednesday in Geneva to join U.N.-led peace talks aimed at ending nearly seven years of fighting.

The talks began Tuesday with U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura meeting with the opposition delegation. He said afterward the two sides would have a chance for direct negotiations in Geneva.

“We are going to offer it. We will see if this takes place. But we will be offering that,” he said.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said the delayed arrival for the government delegation was due to the opposition’s demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down as part of any political transition.

That issue has lingered as a sticking point in years of U.N. attempts to get the government and rebels to agree on a roadmap for Syria’s future.

De Mistura said ahead of the talks he believes it is possible for the two sides to narrow their differences as they negotiate under a framework approved by the U.N. Security Council that calls for a new constitution and elections. But he reiterated his mediation team will not accept either side entering the talks with preconditions.

“This crisis, one of the worst in the history of the United Nations, now has the potential to move towards a genuine political process,” the envoy said. “We see the emergence of international consensus, and we must begin to stitch the process into concrete results, enabling Syrians to determine their own future freely.”

University of New South Wales senior lecturer Anthony Billingsley says with the gains the Syrian military has made with the backing of Russia and Iran, rebel hopes of toppling Assad are not realistic at this point.

“Everybody apart from some of the opposition groups, and perhaps the U.S., has accepted that Assad need not necessarily go. So there’s a fundamental problem there if the Geneva talks are going to make any progress,” Billingsley told VOA.

The Syrian government, meanwhile, agreed Tuesday to a cease-fire in rebel-held rebel-controlled Eastern Ghouta, according to de Mistura.

Eastern Ghouta, located east of Damascus, is among the last remaining opposition strongholds in Syria and one of four “de-escalation zones” that were established to reduce violence.

The fighting in Syria began in 2011 with peaceful protests against Assad and a government crackdown, eventually leading to a multi-party conflict that has left more than 400,000 people dead and 13 million in need of humanitarian aid.
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