Syria’s new rulers have kicked off a long-awaited national dialogue conference as an “exceptional and rare historical opportunity” to rebuild the country after nearly 14 years of cvil war and the fall of former President Bashar Assad.

Although the conference was called to chart the country’s future, the Kurdish-led militia that controls much of Syria’s northeast was not invited.

Syria’s National Dialogue, a key moment in the country’s political transition after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad in December, concluded on Tuesday. A statement delivered at the end of the one-day conference,