Syria's new Islamist rulers kicked off a long-awaited national dialogue conference on Tuesday as a "rare historical opportunity" to rebuild the country after fall of former President Bashar Assad and nearly 14 years of civil war.

Some 600 people from different parts of Syria were invited to the gathering in Damascus, hosted by the new authorities led by the Islamist former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. The group spearheaded the lightening offensive that ousted Assad in early December.