DAMASCUS – Syria’s interim president said on Tuesday his country had a “historic opportunity” to rebuild, addressing a national dialogue summit billed by Syria’s new rulers as a key milestone after decades of Assad-family rule.
Hundreds of Syrians gathered at the presidential palace in Damascus for the one-day event, arriving on a red carpet previously reserved for the few foreign dignitaries visiting former president Bashar al-Assad until he was toppled last year by an opposition offensive spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.
The group’s head, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was named by military opposition commanders as the country’s interim president last month and he swiftly pledged to hold a national dialogue to discuss the country’s future.
“Syria liberated itself on its own, and it suits it to build itself on its own,” he said in his opening address on Tuesday.
“What we are living today is an exceptional, historic and rare opportunity. We must take advantage of every moment of it to serve the interests of our people and our country,” he said.
Sharaa stressed that Syria must unify the various armed groups under a single military command, saying the country’s “strength lies in its unity.”
Participants were divided into six working groups to discuss a transitional justice system; the constitution; building state institutions; personal freedoms; Syria’s future economic model and the role civil society would have in the country.
The discussions were confidential, with a moderator allocating two minutes to participants to speak and restrictions on removing any documents from the summit hall.
Proponents say the process is a notable shift from decades of autocratic rule by the Assad family, when political dissent was often met with detention in a labyrinthine prison system.
But critics have questioned the rushed preparation for the summit, the lack of minority representation and the weight it will ultimately hold in a political process steered heavily so far by HTS.
Speaking after Sharaa, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani criticized international sanctions still in place, saying they were being used “as a means of pressure on the will of the Syrian people.”
Following his comments, a woman in attendance stood up and shouted, “Thank God, the People’s Palace has returned to the people!”
