The Latest Breaking News from Sharaa

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said discussions with a Qatari delegation in Damascus Thursday included reconstruction in the war-torn country, during the first visit by a head of state since Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

Syria's new authorities announced Wednesday that Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took the helm after Bashar al-Assad's ouster last month, has been appointed interim president and tasked with forming a transitional legislature, state media reported.

Syria's new ruler and Lebanon's prime minister pledged on Saturday to build lasting ties during the first visit by a Lebanese head of government to Damascus since the start of the civil war in 2011.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani met Syria's new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus Friday, state media said, in the latest such visit from a European diplomat since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was heading on Thursday to Rome for talks with European counterparts on bringing stability to Syria in the face of flare-ups with Turkey, capping what is likely his final trip.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is due to meet the French and German foreign ministers on Friday, in the highest-level visit by major Western powers under the new authorities in Damascus.

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa met with senior Christian clerics on Tuesday, amid calls on the Islamist chief to guarantee minority rights after seizing power earlier this month.

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV on Sunday that elections could take four years, noted the importance of ties with Iran and Russia, and called for the United States to lift sanctions.

The meeting between the rebel groups and Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa "ended in an agreement on the dissolution of all the groups and their integration under the supervision of the ministry of defence", said a statement carried by the SANA news agency and the authorities' Telegram account.