Participants in the Vienna talks, held on Friday in the Austrian capital, have failed to agree upon the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But a ray of hope did emerge as the conference concluded that a diplomatic process led by the United Nations should be initiated to find a solution to the crisis in Syria.

The Vienna conference, the third international conference on Syria since the crisis broke out in 2011, was attended by top diplomats from 17 countries, along with representatives from the UN and the European Union. The consensus reached marks a positive development in the international efforts to resolve the crisis in peace.

For the first time, an international conference on Syria has brought together all the main outside players in the crisis, including Russia and Iran, key allies of the Syrian government.