Syria’s National Dialogue Conference: A Missed Opportunity

Ahmad al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, pledged in December that the country’s national dialogue conference on February 25 would chart a clear course for the country’s transition to a new constitutional order. Instead, the conference exposed deep flaws in the transition process. The government announced the date of the conference just two days before it took place, and the conference excluded key population groups. Its final recommendations sidestepped crucial constitutional and electoral issues, leaving Syria’s future murky.

The conference in Damascus brought together about 600 attendees, divided into six task forces covering transitional justice, the constitution, state institutions, personal freedoms, economic reform, and civil society.

Islamists Dominate the Conference’s Preparatory Committee

Al-Shaara formed the preparatory committee for the conference on February 12, stacking it with his allies. Three of its members — Yousef al-Hajer, Mustafa al-Musa, and Mohammad Mustat — have deep ties to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the jihadist group that al-Sharaa led for years. Two other members, Hassan al-Dugheim and Maher Aloush, add to the Islamists’ ideological weight. Al-Dugheim, a member of the Syrian Islamic Council, has long championed the expansion of religious authority in Syria. Meanwhile, Aloush is a key ideologue of the Syrian Islamist movement. The committee’s only two women, Hind Qebwat and Huda Attasi, come from civil society backgrounds, advocating for women’s rights and humanitarian causes.

Conference Excludes Key Kurdish Group, Other Influential Figures

The preparatory committee clarified that the conference would exclude any military group refusing to integrate into the state’s armed forces. In effect, this was a decision to shut out the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which govern northeast Syria and are hesitant to accept the authority of a Sunni Arab Islamist government.However, since the conference did not chart the path forward for the transition, the SDF may not have lost much by missing out.

The conference was anything but inclusive. The preparatory committee’s online questionnaire, meant to promote public participation in the topics discussed during the conference, deliberately excluded respondents from Hasaka and Raqqa, governorates where the SDF holds control. However, the conference reported that “ten thousand Syrians participated in the National Dialogue Conference, expressing their opinions through a verified platform … the participation included Syrians from various parts of the world.”

Since the conference organizers put it together at the last minute, many key figures — inside and outside Syria — received their invitations less than 48 hours before the conference began and thus could not attend.

Key individuals missed the conference, including George Sabra, former president of the Qatar-based National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, and Burhan Ghalion, former president of the Turkey-based Syrian National Council. Sabra took to social media to explain, “I apologize for not accepting the invitation due to the short time between the invitation and the conference and the impossibility of attending.”

The Conference Produced Vague, Non-Binding Recommendations

The conference concluded with 18 recommendations in its final statement, emphasizing the need for national unity, a military under state control, a constitutional framework, and a legislative council to oversee the transition.

These are crucial steps in state-building. However, the conference’s recommendations are non-binding, leaving Syria’s new leadership free to ignore them.

In December, Al-Sharaa assured the country that the national dialogue conference would be “inclusive of all components and will witness voting on sensitive decisions.” Nevertheless, as the conference unfolded, it became clear that Sharaa’s promises would remain unfulfilled.

The United States has a strong interest in incentivizing an inclusive transition process that results in a representative government with adequate protection of minority rights and civil liberties. Al-Sharaa has concentrated exceptional power in his own hands and remains on the U.S. terrorism blacklist because of his years as an al-Qaeda commander. A system of checks and balances can prevent Syria from returning to dictatorship. Washington should signal that restoring diplomatic relations with Syria and returning an ambassador to Damascus will depend on Syria’s move toward representative government.

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.