"If the political willpower is there and shared, and if people are prepared to compromise reasonably, there is a path forward to be able to have a peaceful solution in Syria," Kerry said in response to a question during a Google Hangout session yesterday.
At the same time, he acknowledged that under present circumstances, it is "tough and very difficult to achieve".
"I can tell you that we all owe the world the best effort possible to try to get there and to explore, in good faith, whether or not we can end the violence, end the bloodshed, avoid a complete disintegration," he said.
He said there is no question in his mind that this fight is about the terrible choices that the Assad regime has made with its willingness to kill its own citizens and to really project the situation as an "outside affair".
"If people come to this table prepared to recognise that you could have a transitional government - which will not include President Assad, because the terms of the agreement of the first Geneva conference are that the transitional government has to be chosen by mutual consent, and obviously, the opposition will never give consent to Assad - but if you're willing to compromise in the choosing of the people who will run that transitional government and you choose in good faith people who are prepared to put in front of the people of Syria a fair choice about who their leader ought to be, then I believe you could avoid war and you could have a settlement," the top American diplomat explained.