It may not come with a cast-iron guarantee but Saturday was a very important milestone for Syria to take its first wobbly steps toward peace.

The cease-fire is fragile and no one doubts that the slightest misstep or misunderstanding can unravel this effort. But the monumental logistics involved in getting 97 factions to agree to a spiking of guns is in itself a major success.

What must now be done is to ensure the peace holds long enough to move into the negotiation phase.

Indeed, the overseers of this initiative, be they the US or Russia, must also exercise restraint and create the right atmosphere of trust and intent.

The Friday aerial assaults by Russia on Aleppo are exactly the sort of actions best avoided.

Whether it brings the promise of that elusive peace or is merely an interlude to the next phase of fighting depends on the sincerity of all sides.

US President Barack Obama’s expression of great hope is well taken and a success here would certainly anoint his legacy as he rolls up his tenure. Peace in the Middle East has been much like the Scarlett Pimpernel since Jimmy Carter occupied the White House.

His call for the moderate rebels to back off their conflict and join hands to create a front against Daesh may have been the contributory factor in getting the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) to the table but the major chasm lies in the distrust between the Assad regime and the rebels as well as the unsettling US-Russian equation with the latter supporting Assad and the former seeking his removal.

Obama as recently as this week said Assad has to go and the Russians will shut doors on that one.

This is the prickly pear and in all these negotiations the sacrifices made by the Saudi-led coalition forces in the region will have to be taken into account as much guarantees for the security of the Gulf countries and Middle East, both in the short and the long term.

The rest of the world is watching very closely and so it should. If the effort collapses it will be very difficult to bring these groups back together again and in the debris there may be more factions created. The greatest tragedy will be if a standoff between the Russians and the US triggers the domino effect thereby making the architects of the peace move the ones who pulled the plug.

The stress of reaching March 7 when the talks open without cease-fire violations jeopardizing this process is tangible. These 10 days call for maturity and a collective will to see the bigger picture and Syrians, one and all.

If there are incursions on the cessation of hostilities there must be immediate intervention of the calming sort rather than military retaliation.

It is not going to be easy, but it is the best situation to save a country these last five years.