After months of trying to get both sides to the table, the Syrian government and Rebels have agreed to peace talks.  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon promptly announced that the talks would take place in Geneva and commence on 22 January.

The UN, US and Russia met in Geneva to lay the groundwork.  They’ve had a hard time getting parties to agree on how to even begin a political solution to the two and a half year old civil war that’s killed more than 100,000 people.  The violence was demonstrated by the latest viral video from Syria, showing children in the besieged suburbs of Damascus being interviewed for TV just as an explosion occurs.  These kids were okay.  Tens of thousands of others hurt and killed during the fighting were not.

Ban wants both sides to implement the “Geneva Communique” which was issued after a meeting of the UN-backed Action Group for Syria in the Swiss city in June 2012.  It calls for an immediate cessation of violence and the formation of a transitional government to take over from the regime of Bashar al-Assad. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the talks are the “best opportunity" to and the war, but remained practical.

‘We are well aware that the obstacles on the road to a political solution are many, and we will enter the Geneva conference on Syria with our eyes wide open,” the secretary said.