Since the start of Syria's war in 2011, several diplomatic initiatives have stumbled over the future of President Bashar al-Assad. In January 2012, two months after an initial bid to end the violence, leading Arab diplomats adopt a fresh plan that would transfer power from Assad to a coalition cabinet. On June 30, 2012 in Geneva, global powers draw up a plan that would install a transition government, but which does not spell out what would happen to Assad.
