Expanded meeting of Syrian civil and political forces and personalities (February 15-16, 2025): Final declaration

Expanded meeting of Syrian civilian and political forces and personalities, 16/02/2025

Translated by Ayman El Hakim, Tlaxcala

 O great people of Syria

O people of sacrifice and redemption, cradle of the first civilizations in history

O our people, who still suffer deprivation, oppression, bloodshed and the danger of partition, division and social splits that threaten the unity of the country and the unity of the people.

In order to fight to alleviate the suffering of our people, to respond to all these dangers by establishing the basis for free national action, to fight to restore the national unity of the entire people, to lift injustice for all, to reject the monopolization of power by any party whatsoever, so as not to fall back into a totalitarian monolithic regime and not to repeat the national tragedy, and under the motto:

Religion for God and Fatherland for all - Equal Citizenship and Human Dignity.

For all these objectives:

The expanded Syrian national meeting was held in Syrian cities and in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 15 and 16, 2025, with remote participation for those who could not attend in person. Calls to hold this expanded meeting were made in view of the political, security, economic and social conditions that our Syrian people are still suffering from.

The goal of the Syrian revolutionaries has been to overthrow the Assad regime, which has wreaked havoc on the Syrian people for half a century and more, as our Syrian people have paid a heavy price for its overthrow since the beginning of the Syrian revolution on March 18, 2011, and also before it began, many Syrian fighters have paid with their lives for the struggle against the criminal Assad family and its totalitarian system.

December 8, 2024 came to give us a dose of hope on the eve of the fall of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad and his cronies, because it was the day we wanted, as the popular national song says.

However, from the very first days, we Syrian patriots began to see worrying things and behaviours that were never part of the objectives of the revolution for freedom and dignity.

The new administration has unilaterally announced decisions that monopolize the national decision-making process, without respecting the struggles of all those who sacrificed themselves for the success of the revolution. These decisions have given rise to deep concern about what is happening, and suggest that the new administration, despite the rhetoric of the head of the command Ahmad al-Sharaa,  to dissuade critics, and his smooth talk  to various media, is establishing a new totalitarian regime that is unilateral and not pluralistic.

The new administration has announced appointments to the army command and the Ministry of Defense without respecting the struggle and sacrifices of the 6,000 officers who defected from the Assad regime, as if they did not exist. It has also awarded military ranks in the Syrian army to non-Syrians whose hands are drenched in Syrian blood, and has ignored the vast majority of the sons of the revolution, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers who have given their all to free Syria from corruption and tyranny.

On the civil front, a one-color government was appointed under the pretext of homogeneity and cohesion, the same argument used by the deposed dictator. This includes the appointment of a minister of justice who carried out beheadings in the town squares of Idlib in a scene, under the eyes of the whole world, which offends and harms the tolerant and moderate Islamic religion of justice, mercy and humanity, not to mention the violations of human rights, the absence of judicial control, courts and injustice towards women.

The posts of the State and the government were occupied by relatives, friends and close acquaintances, men we knew and recognized at the time when the city of Idlib, dear to our hearts, was ruled by the “government of salvation” and when the inhabitants of Idlib demonstrated daily against arbitrary imprisonment, injustice and all kinds of violations.

Oh great Syrian people

No political regime in history can be characterized by justice if it exercises a monopoly on power, and it is only a matter of days and months before its spies and agents begin to put people in prison, because those who monopolize power cannot tolerate criticism or freedom. For this reason, a number of Syrians hastened to convene this expanded meeting to consider what the people of the country should do before the foundations of a new totalitarian regime take root and we are confronted with a new half-century of oppression and tyranny. After deliberation in the various committees of the meeting, the following decisions were made:

First: The expanded meeting of civilian and political forces and personalities has decided to form the Humanitarian and Human Rights Monitoring Committee for a rapid response, 57 people from the best cadres of Syrian civil society, supported by their humanitarian and human rights organizations, to start working today to do what they can for our people who are suffering in the most basic human rights to shelter, income and bread. They are joined by dozens of humanitarian and human rights organizations. Several fact-finding missions, two of which have begun work and the others will follow, and workshops that will work to promote a culture of civil peace and to fight hate speech and incitement... Lawyers will scrutinize all violations, but there will be no impunity. The transitional justice issue will also be closely monitored.

Secondly: The expanded meeting of civilian and political forces and personalities decided to form a committee called the National Democratic Committee to build a unified Syrian National Democratic Body, whose mission is to communicate with political and civil forces and organizations and to strengthen the existing dialogue between the various democratic forces to work together under the banner of the homeland and equal citizenship.

Finally, the expanded meeting decided to create a media committee.

Thirdly, the meeting presented a proposal for a provisional constitutional declaration for the country, which is the most important thing Syria needs in the current situation.

Fourthly, the meeting presented an economic rescue project for the country by a number of economic specialists among Syrian executives who are recognized for their knowledge and skills.

Fifth: The meeting presented a comprehensive account of the injustice to which Syrian women are subjected and prevented from exercising the most basic fundamental rights and freedoms, as Syrian society was the first society in the East to give women a respectable position as doctors, engineers, educators, university professors, and fundamental political and social rights, and today they want women to return to the forced servitude of a male-centered society, which has nothing to do with Islam or great human values.

Sixth: The meeting gave rise to a comprehensive presentation on the violations and crimes committed in Syria and on the reality of human rights in Syria in all regions of the country.

Seventh: The meeting presented a study on the best ways to rebuild a professional national army whose primary task is to protect the country and not to interfere in political life or ideological conflicts.

Eighth: The meeting presented a comprehensive project for the revival of education in Syria after the years of war, in order to produce capable and conscious generations who build life, freedom and progress, and reach out to the world for prosperity and peace.

The expanded Syrian meeting considers that all these documents form an integral part of the final declaration and that they will be presented in a separate document to the Syrian people and its active and militant elites, with the visions and the working approach of the committees, during the coming period.

Long live free and independent Syria!