'Syria's moderate Sunnis are also worried by the Muslim Brotherhood & Salafis' ascendancy'

"... Moderate Sunnis in Syria are worried by the increasing militancy of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis who have taken the upper hand in opposition ranks. The large pro-regime demonstrations in Damascus and Aleppo over the past week cannot simply be written off as crowds who were intimidated or threatened with loss of jobs if they did not turn out.
Meanwhile, Syria's large Christian minority cowers in alarm, fearing to share the fate of Iraqi Christians who were forced to flee when sectarian killing heightened the significance of every citizen's religious identity and began to overwhelm non-Muslims too. In northern Syria the Kurds are also nervous about the future. In spite of the regime's long-standing refusal to accept their national rights, most fear the Muslim Brotherhood more... ...
If that were to become a serious effort at mediation, so much the better. The best model is the agreement that ended Lebanon's civil war, reached after talks in Taif in Saudi Arabia in 1989. Although it was negotiated by the various Lebanese parties and interest groups, Saudi sponsorship and support were important.
Whether Saudi Arabia can play a similar role today is doubtful. Eagerly backed by the Obama administration, the monarchy seems bent on an anti-Iranian mission in which toppling Syria's Shia-led regime is seen as a proxy strike against Tehran. The Saudis and Americans are working closely with the Sunni forces of Saad Hariri in Beirut, who are still smarting from their loss of control of the Lebanese government this spring.
Turkey tried mediating this summer, but its effort was treated by the Assad regime as duplicitous because Turkey was simultaneously helping the Syrian opposition to organise in Istanbul. Torn between a desire for good relations with its neighbour Iran as well as with Arab Sunni regimes, Turkey has gone over fully to the anti-Assad side. US pressure and Washington's renewed willingness to turn a blind eye to Turkish military incursions against Kurdish guerrilla bases in northern Iraq may have played a role.
In theory the UN could mediate, but its efforts to broker an end to Libya's civil war had no support from western members of the security council. With their anti-Assad, no-amnesty stance they seem just as unwilling to seek peace in Syria. Russia alone has had the wisdom to support dialogue and give a strong message to that effect when Syrian oppositionists visited Moscow.
The Arab League could yet appoint a group of eminent independent Arabs to listen to all sides in the Syrian crisis and seek a "new Taif". The team would have to include Shia as well as Sunni members. But first the Arab League needs to reject the anti-Iranian hysteria that the US, Israel and the Saudis are stirring up along the Gulf. The abyss of all-out civil war in Syria is far more real. And it is very close..."