ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Ahmad al-Sharaa, interim president of Syria, on Sunday issued a decree for the formation of a specialized committee of seven members to draft a constitutional declaration to oversee the country’s affairs through the transitional period.

The constitutional draft is set to be based on the outcomes of the Syrian National Dialogue Conference that took place late February. The conference saw 18 outcomes for the future of governance in Syria, according to a post conference statement released at the time.

“The Committee shall draft the constitutional declaration regulating the transitional period in the Syrian Arab Republic,” reads the presidential decree, adding that “the committee shall submit its proposal to the President of the Republic.”

A rebel offensive in early December, spearheaded by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), saw the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, ending the Assads’ five-decade-long rule and shifting the political scene in Syria and the Middle East.

A new interim government was formed in late January that resulted in former HTS leader Sharaa being declared president to oversee the affairs of the transitional government.

The new government organized the “Syrian National Dialogue Conference” later in February that “aimed to represent all Syrians and conclude with recommendations on governing the country,” an organizer of the event told AFP at the time.

The Kurds in Syria, however, questioned the legitimacy of the conference.

“Conferences with token representation... are meaningless, worthless, and will not contribute to finding real solutions to the country's ongoing crisis,” said 35 parties in the autonomous Kurdish-led administration in north and east Syria in a joint statement. 

The same sentiment was echoed by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who said that they “will not participate in the Syrian National Dialogue Conference,” a source from SDF told The New Region at the time, adding that they also “reject its outcome.”

The Kurdish National Council (KNC or ENKS) meanwhile criticized the conference in a statement, accusing it of “selectively and individually sending invitation” and not ensuring balanced representation.

SDF chief Mazloum Abdi told Associated Press (AP) earlier in February “our vision for Syria is a decentralized, secular, and civil nation founded on democracy that respects the rights of all its components.”