With the support of the United States, the United Nations special envoy on Syria is mounting a diplomatic push for a brokered agreement that would lead to the ouster of the country’s president, Bashar Assad, and the installation of a transitional government, The New York Times reported Friday, December 7. The envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, convened an unusual three-way meeting Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. After the 40-minute meeting, Brahimi said his goal was to “put together a peace process” that would build on discussions that the United States and Russia had in June but which quickly collapsed. With Assad’s fortunes looking bleaker and persistent worries that the Syrian leader is considering using his chemical arsenal, the hope on the American side is that the Russians might throw their weight behind Brahimi’s effort.