After almost three years of bloody civil war, a major step has been taken in the Syrian conflict: President Bashar al-Assad's regime has agreed to participate in a peace conference sponsored by the United States and Russia, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Ba'ath party ruler has not released any official word as to what they might talk about at the summit, but a Syrian legislator said the government has full intentions of attendance.
Although the regime merely agreed to the peace talks "in principle," this is still a significant turning of the tides in a battle between Assad's government and rebel forces.
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on television that Russia is satisfied with Syria's decision to attend.
"We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from the Syrian government in Damascus to participate in the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves, to find a political solution," he said.
Russia and the United States teamed up to organize the conference, in hopes of bringing representatives from Assad's cabinet and the members of the opposition together, to negotiate peace talks, according to the Associated Press.
The conference is scheduled to be held in Geneva next month, and aims to come up with an appropriate transitional government to ease Syria out of its civil war.
Russia and the United States have come up with a plan to talk about a new system of government, and an open-ended cease-fire.
United States leaders, along with some European and Arab supporters of Syrian opposition groups, have stated that Assad must step down from power immediately after the transition period begins.
Since 2011's Arab Spring, more than 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war. A few million people have been forced to leave their homes and seek refuge wherever they can.
The U.S.-supported Syrian National Coalition- one of the main opposition groups fighting Assad's regime-has not yet stated whether or not they will attend the conference.
