UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura made a surprise visit to Damascus last week for urgent talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, in a bid to secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to areas besieged by the Syrian army.

Damascus agreed, or so it seems so far, to allow the delivery of urgently needed food and medicine to seven areas encircled by the Syrian armed forces.

“It is clear it is the duty of the government of Syria to want to reach every Syrian person wherever they are and allow the UN to bring humanitarian aid,” said de Mistura after getting the green light to have aid delivered.

The Syrian government’s decision to change course and allow the UN to bring urgently needed humanitarian aid to Syrians in besieged areas comes after important military advances made by the Syrian army with the help, no doubt, of the aerial Russian attacks on rebel forces and, unfortunately, the population at large.

This initial move gives some hope that other besieged Syrian areas might get badly needed help and that the “cessation of hostilities” will indeed hold.

Moscow is playing a big role in the decision-making process in Damascus and there is little doubt that it pushed Bashar Assad’s regime to agree to this modest humanitarian move.

Russia’s image has been badly marred in the Syrian conflict, especially after the recent bombing of hospitals in the north of the country, which killed and wounded scores of innocent people.

Still, no amount of help can bring peace of mind to Syrians.

That can only happen when hostilities stop in the country and the fighting factions sit down to talk peace.

As long as either side to the conflict entertains the hope of a military victory, the war will go on and the resolution of the armed conflict in Syria will remain out of sight.