DAMASCUS: Two weeks after seizing power in a sweeping offensive, Syria`s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani-on Sunday said weapons in the country, including those held by Kurdish-led forces, would come under state control.

He was speaking alongside Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, after earlier meeting with Lebanese Druze leaders, where he vowed to end `negative interference` in neighbouring Lebanon.

During a press conference with Fidan, Sharaa said Syria`s armed `factions will begin to announce their dissolution and enter` the army.

`We will absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control, whether from the revolutionary factions or the factions present in the SDF area`, he added, referring to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

Ankara-backed rebels played a key role in supporting Sharaa`s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir alSham (HTS), which headed a rebel alliance and seized Damascus on December 8 Sharaa also known as AbuMohammed al-Jolani had traded in the olive-green military shirt he sported just days ago for a suit and tie during his meetings Sunday at the presidential palace.

He also said `we are working on protecting sects and minorities from any attacks that occur between them` and from `external` actors exploiting the situation `to cause sectarian discord`.

`Syria is a country for all and we can coexist together,` he added.

Fidan said sanctions on Syria must `be lifted as soon as possible`. He called for the international community to `mobilise to help Syria get back on its feet and for the displaced people to return`.Turkiye has maintained strong ties with Syria`s new leaders, and Ankara`s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin was in Damascus just four days after Assad fell.

Ankara has meanwhile continued operations against Kurdishheld areasin northeastern Syria, with a Britain-based war monitor reporting on Saturday that a Turkish drone strike killed five civilians in the area.

Ankara regards the People`s Protection Units (YPG), the main component of the SDF, as being linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) at home, which both Turkiye and Western allies deem a `terrorist` organisation.Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia is also in direct contact with Syria`s new authorities, having supported the opposition to Assad for years during Syria`s civil war. Riyadh will send a delegation to the country soon, Syria`s ambassador in the Saudi capital said.

During his meeting with visiting Lebanese Druze chiefs Walid and Taymur Jumblatt, Sharaa said Syria will no longer exert `negative interference in Lebanon at all`.

The seizure of power by the Sunni Islamists of HTS proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many governments including the United States has sparked concern,thoughthe grouphasin recent years sought to moderate its rhetoric.

Despite worries over Syria`s future, global powers including the United States and the European Union have stepped up contacts with the war-ravaged country`s new leaders, urging them to guarantee protections for women and minorities.

The supreme leader of Iran -a major backer of Assad`s administration before it fell on Sunday predicted `the emergence of a strong, honourable group` that would stand against `insecurity` in Syria.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Syria`s young men would `stand with strength and determination against those who have designed this insecurity and those who have implemented it, and God willing, he will overcome them`.-AFP