It took almost a year for the Geneva communiqué on Syria of June 2012 to be dusted off and for diplomacy to be given another try. The agreement last month between Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia to launch a new political process, Geneva II, marked an important opportunity. An opportunity that is already wilting under intense strain.

Yet after two years of destruction and 80,000 deaths, it is precisely such a bold and inclusive political approach, rather than military action, that still offers the best — and perhaps the only — chance of averting even greater suffering, radicalization and regional implosion.

To succeed, the West must urgently step up its diplomatic maneuvering and make the ending of the conflict a priority over wider political ambitions. This will entail real deal-making to ensure that all of the key international and regional actors have a sufficient stake in the process to back it fully, and so press their allies in Syria to do likewise. Unpalatable compromises will be needed — in particular, accepting that Bashar al-Assad’s fate must be a question rather than a precondition for the transition process and that Iran must play a role in any diplomatic process. For the sake of Syria, the wider region and Western security interests, this should now be the strategic imperative.

Those voices in the West pushing for a military solution, whether through the establishment of no-fly zones, the direct arming of Syrian rebels or military strikes against regime targets, have become increasingly vocal. The case is made that this will be the only way of tipping the balance against Assad and forcing either meaningful compromises or capitulation.