The United Nations has invited Syria's government and opposition to indirect "proximity talks" that are due to start in Switzerland on Friday.
The invitations were delayed because of disagreements over who should be included in the opposition delegation.
What is not in dispute, however, is that the situation on the ground ahead of those talks is changing.
Government forces have retaken control of a strategically important town in southern Syria.
Sheikh Miskeen lies on one of the main routes from Damascus to the city of Deraa and the Jordanian border.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that Syrian government soldiers and allied fighters, including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, took control on Tuesday night.
Russian warplanes were reported to have played a key role in the offensive.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow that Russia's intervention is having a major impact.
"The military actions of Russia's air force in response to the request of the Syrian government have drastically altered the situation in the country and have helped to narrow the area controlled by terrorists."
Russia has been equally vocal about who should attend the Geneva peace talks.
At the same press conference Sergei Lavrov reiterated the Russian view that it is essential to invite the most powerful Syrian Kurdish political party, the Democratic Union Party otherwise known as the P-Y-D, to the talks.
But that is a red line** for Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkey's parliament that neither the PYD nor its affiliate the Y-P-G should be included in the opposition delegation.
"Representation of Syrian Kurds in talks is a necessity. Negotiations without Kurds at the table cannot be inclusive. We are not against the presence of Kurds at talks. But we are vehemently against the participation of the PYD and YPG who oppress the Kurds."
The head of the PYD, Saleh Muslim, maintains that he has not received an invitation.
As the squabbling over who should attend Friday's talks continues, so too do the atrocities.
In Homs on Tuesday night more than 20 people were killed in an attack for which Islamic State militants claimed responsibility.
While in Geneva, UN humanitarian agencies have been reminding all sides what five years of war has so far cost the country.
Hanna Singer spoke on behalf of UNICEF, the UN agency representing the interests of children.
"At the outset of the conflict, children used to take a support role -- cooks, porters, or assistants to paramedics. But now we see much more children on the front lines, manning checkpoints, carrying weapons and in extreme cases we have seen them taking part in actual killing, including being suicide bombers, and executioners."
