Hundreds of Syrian politicians and activists gathered Tuesday in Damascus to endorse the opening steps of the country’s political transition, a milestone event after decades of ironfisted one-family rule.

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 new interim president pledged on Tuesday to ensure the state has a monopoly on weapons at a national dialogue conference on the country's future after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.