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.

Nearly three months after Bashar al-Assad fled, much of Syria is suspended between relief at the dictatorship’s demise and anxiety over what comes next.

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.