A group of Alawite political activists have called for federalism in central and western Syria, following sectarian violence in the country.
The activists announced on Wednesday evening the formation of what they called the "Political Council for Central and Western Syria".
Alawites are a minority sect who live mostly in the country’s coastal region and parts of central Syria.
The council took aim at the Islamist-led government in Damascus and emphasised the need to implement UN Resolution 2254, which in 2015, when former dictator Bashar al-Assad was still in power, outlined a roadmap to end the Syrian conflict.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led a rebel uprising which overthrew Assad last December, has faced criticism over his implementation of a temporary constitution that centralises power in the presidency and creates an appointed, rather than elected, legislature.
The new Alawite-led claimed that federalism was the most suitable form of governance in Syria, despite widespread misgivings about this in the country, saying it rejected a one-sided government formed by the de facto authority.
Bashar al-Assad and many of his inner circle were members of the Alawite sect and Alawites have faced discrimination and persecution since his ouster.
The council called "the withdrawal of terrorist factions from Syria" according to the statement, without specifying who it meant, and said that it supported transitional justice in the country.
The council called for the establishment of a federation in central and western Syria to "resolve internal conflicts in their broadest sense," in the provinces of Latakia, Tartus, Homs, and parts of rural Hama.
More than 1,400 Alawites, mostly civilians, were killed in March after Assad regime remnants launched a deadly uprising and government-affiliated forces responded with violence, including sectarian killings of civilians.
A UN-backed commission that investigated the violence found that there was "widespread and systematic" violence against civilians perpetrated by some government-affiliated factions but found no evidence that the central government directed it.
The council’s announcement comes after similar calls made by the Druze-majority Suweida governorate in southern Syria, which was also the scene of deadly sectarian clashes in July.
The Kurdish-led administration which controls northeastern Syria has also called for federalism.
Earlier this month, a conference purporting to represent Syria's minority communities called for the formation of a decentralised state and the drafting of a new constitution that guarantees religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism.
The government rejected the conference however and federalism enjoys little support in Syria's majority Sunni community.
Sharaa has blamed "external forces" for trying to divide Syria, which has been devastated by 14 years of conflict which began after the Assad regime brutally suppressed protests against its rule in 2011.