Syria’s National Dialogue Committee: A Facade of Inclusivity

Syria’s new president pledged to champion inclusivity, yet he has stacked a key transition committee with like-minded Islamists. The seven-member National Dialogue Committee will organize the National Dialogue Conference responsible for drawing the roadmap for elections and a new constitutional order.

The Damascus government announced on February 12 that the committee will be composed of seven individuals, five of whom are Islamists with ties to President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The committee includes two women, one of whom is Christian, but no member of the country’s Kurdish, Alawite, or Druze minorities. Rather than laying the foundation for a true national dialogue, the committee appears to be an exercise in political theater.

Claims of Inclusivity Undermined by Committee’s Islamist Dominance

In his first speech as transitional president on January 30, al-Sharaa pledged “to form a comprehensive transitional government that expresses the diversity of Syria, its men, women, and youth, and that will undertake the work of building the institutions of the new Syria until we reach the stage of free and fair elections.” The National Dialogue Conference, the first such gathering of Syrians in 75 years, is the main vehicle for advancing this vision.

Three members of the new committee — Yousef al-Hajer, Mustafa al-Musa, and Mohammad Mustat — are linked to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the jihadi military organization that al-Sharaa led from 2017 until its dissolution upon al-Shaara’s ascent to the presidency. Two other committee members, Hassan al-Dugheim and Maher Aloush, are Islamist-leaning academics. Al-Dugheim is a member of the Syrian Islamic Council — a religious body based in Turkey that seeks to advance the Islamic project and strengthen the role of religious institutions in Syrian society — and was also part of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army. Aloush, a writer, is a key ideologue of the Syrian Islamist movement. The remaining two committee members are women: Hind Qebwat, a Syrian Christian activist with a background in civil society and women’s issues, and Huda Attasi, who is also a well-known advocate for women’s rights and humanitarian work. While the inclusion of women is a positive step, their prospective influence on the committee’s decisions is doubtful. The Kurdish National Council in Syria claimed it was “not consulted” about the formation of the seven-member committee and criticized the absence of Kurds.

Rules for National Dialogue Conference Would Exclude Key Kurdish Faction, Possibly Others

Shortly after its formation, the National Dialogue Committee announced that, for armed groups, participation in the National Dialogue Conference will be contingent on their laying down arms and submitting to the authority of the new defense ministry. In effect, this is a threat to exclude the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces from shaping the country’s new order unless they submit to Sharaa’s authority. Yet Sharaa is closely aligned with Turkey and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, both of which have clashed for years with the Syrian Kurds. 

The rules would also potentially block the participation of Druze armed factions, as well as the groups that comprise the Southern Operations Room, which fought against Assad in the country’s southern region.

Permanent Sanctions Relief Should Be Tied to Representative Government

The Syrian transitional government is urging the West to lift all sanctions, but this should depend on clear moves toward representative government, rather than Islamic rule with al-Sharaa at the helm. Al-Sharaa and HTS remain on the U.S. and UN terrorism blacklists because of their years-long affiliation with al-Qaeda. Foreign jihadists played a prominent role in the HTS-led coalition that overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December. It remains to be seen whether Syria will become a sanctuary for foreign fighters and terror financiers.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has highlighted the need for an inclusive transition in Syria and urged an expansive representation of Syrian voices in shaping the country’s future. The Trump administration should make clear that sanctions relief depends on Sharaa and his allies clearly breaking with their history of extremism and autocratic conduct.

Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he focuses on Middle East affairs, specifically the Levant, Iraq, and Iranian intervention in Arab affairs, as well as U.S. foreign policy toward the region. For more analysis from Ahmad and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Ahmad on X @AhmadA_Sharawi. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.