Syria’s national dialogue conference kicks off as the battered country seeks to rebuild | World News

Participants in Syria’s national dialogue conference collect at the Dama Rose resort in Damascus, Syria (Image credit: AP)

DAMASCUS: Syria’s new Islamist rulers kicked off a long-awaited national dialogue conference on Tuesday as a “rare historical opportunity” to rebuild the country after fall of former President Bashar Assad and almost 14 years of civil battle.
Some 600 individuals from totally different elements of Syria had been invited to the gathering in Damascus, hosted by the new authorities led by the Islamist former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. The group spearheaded the lightening offensive that ousted Assad in early December.
“Just as Syria has liberated itself by itself, it is appropriate for it to build itself by itself,” interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa informed the conference.
“What we are experiencing today is an exceptional and rare historical opportunity in which we must use every moment to serve the interests of our people and our nation and honor the sacrifices of its children,” he mentioned.
Syria’s country’s new rulers, who’ve promised an inclusive political transition since seizing energy, might be intently watched by each Syrians and the worldwide group, together with international locations nonetheless weighing whether or not to raise sanctions imposed throughout Assad’s authoritarian rule.
Syria faces main challenges, from rebuilding an economic system and war-wrecked infrastructure, to organising a brand new structure and justice mechanisms for these accused of battle crimes.
Although incidents of revenge and collective punishment have been far much less widespread than anticipated, many in Syria’s minority communities, together with Kurds, Christians, Druze and members of Assad’s Alawite sect, are involved for his or her future and never but satisfied by the new rulers’ guarantees of inclusive governance. HTS was previously affiliated with al-Qaida, though it broke ties and al-Sharaa has since preached coexistence.
The organizers of the Damascus conference mentioned all of Syria’s communities had been invited but it surely was not instantly clear what number of minority contributors confirmed up. The gathering is supposed to provide you with non-binding suggestions to the country’s interim guidelines forward of the drafting of a brand new structure and formation of a brand new authorities.
Syria’s new Islamist leaders additionally additionally face the problem of reworking former rebel factions right into a single national military they are saying ought to management all of Syria’s territory.
Some armed teams, primarily the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian democratic forces that holds sway in northeastern Syria, have thus far refused to disarm and dissolve their models.
Also, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu mentioned Sunday that Israel won’t enable Syria’s new military or the HTS, the former rebel group that led the ouster of Assad, to “enter the area south of Damascus.”
After Assad’s fall, Israeli forces moved into territory in southern Syria adjoining to the Israel-annexed Golan Heights and have made it clear they plan to keep there indefinitely.
Syria’s new rulers haven’t straight responded to Netanyahu’s warning however al-Sharaa mentioned at the Damascus conference that Syria should “firmly confront anyone who wants to tamper with our security and unity.”
Interim international minister Asaad al-Shibani mentioned Syria’s new authorities “will not accept any violation of our sovereignty or the independence of our national decisions.” He additionally touted the new authorities’s efforts to rebuild diplomatic ties with Arab and Western international locations and push for lifting of sanctions imposed throughout Assad’s rule.