According to Syrian interim leaders, the day’s event aims to pave the way for a final constitutional declaration.
Syrian post-Assad leaders convened the “National Dialogue” summit in Damascus on February 25th. It is said that hundreds of people from all over the country are participating there.
“Syria is free in itself and is suitable for building itself,” interim leader Ahmed al-Shara said in his opening remarks.
“It is an exceptional, historic, rare opportunity that we live today. We must use every moment to serve the interests of our people and our nation. .”
Organizers say the day’s event illustrates Syria’s political future two months after President Bashar al-Assad’s longtime regime collapsed in the face of turkey-backed rebel attacks. It is intended to be transformed.
Participants are expected to discuss the new national economy framework and recommendations on the interim government’s plan for institutional reform.
In past statements, Alshara said the summit would produce a final statement that the constitutional declaration could ultimately be based on.
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Hassan al-Dugeim, a spokesman for the Summit Preparation Committee, said the recommendations made at the meeting will be considered by the next transitional government to assume power on March 1.
A day before the meeting, authorities said hundreds of people across Syria had been invited to participate in what Al Dugaim praised as “historic events.”
Last December, Syrian longtime Assad regime was collapsed in a turkey-backed rebel attack led by Hayat Taharil Al-Sham (HTS), a terrorist group with previous links to al-Qaeda.
Later last month, the rebel commanders met in Damascus. There, HTS leader Alshara (formerly known as Mohamed Al Golani), was declared an interim leader in an unspecified “transitional stage.”
The Syrian parliament was also dissolved, and its Assad-era constitution was abolished, and Alshara was given the authority to establish a temporary legislative council.
In her first public address as a leader on January 30th, the 43-year-old Alshara pledged to convened a national dialogue summit to hear “different perspectives on future political programs.”
In a statement aired shortly afterwards, he said the summit will tackle the country’s most urgent issues and create a final document that could be based on “constitutional declarations.”
After the Assad regime fell in early December, Alshara initially said it would take up to three years to formulate a new constitution.
On January 9, 2025, the US military in the northeastern city of Kamishuri, which is largely controlled by Kurdish-led Syrian democratic forces in Hasaka, Syria. Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images
The group urged disarming
According to Al-dughaim, the committee’s spokesman will be attending the national dialogue summit between 400 and 1,000 people across Syria.
In mid-February, the committee declared that armed groups that lay weapons and refused to submit to the HTS-led administration would not be invited to the event.
“People who don’t abandon their arms will not play a role in national dialogue,” Al-Dugeim told reporters at the time.
In the days leading up to the summit, the reserve committee held meetings in all 14 Syria provinces to determine who would be invited to participate.
The seven-person committee reportedly includes five individuals who are either HTS members or are known to be close to the group. It does not include Alawis, a group that the Assad family is called, or members of the substantial Druze community in Syria.
Druze and Alawites are one of the most important religious minorities in the country.
Sheikh Hikumat Al Hairi, spiritual leader of Syria’s Druze community, questioned the HTS-led regime’s ability to manage the country and resolve countless problems.
“We respect all opinions,” Al Hajiri told Reuters in a recent interview. “But we don’t see the ability to lead a nation or shape it in the right way.
“We hope that things will be organized or something new will happen by the end of the transition.”
Also, none of the Kurdish-led autonomous regions of Syria in the northeastern part of the country, or the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were invited to attend the summit, officials from both groups said. He told Reuters.
In previous statements, the HTS-led regime calls for integration of SDF members into Syria’s reconstructed national forces.
Armed, supported and trained by the US, the Kurdish-led SDF was rounded together in 2015.
As part of the United Nations, which is tasked with fighting ISIS terrorist groups, it works closely with around 2,000 US troops still deployed in northeastern Syria.
Reuters contributed to this report.
