Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday, tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad.

He had spent the day with the leaders of Syria’s myriad armed factions, trying to persuade them to disband. Over seven weeks after the fall of Damascus, the fate of these groups is still uncertain. His aides claim that all militias will be dissolved and then absorbed into a new national army.

The Syrian factions that toppled President Bashar Assad last month have named an Islamist former rebel leader as the country‘s interim president in a push to project a united front as they face the mo

Sharaa was declared president for a transitional phase on Wednesday (January 29), tightening his hold on power less than two months after he led a campaign that toppled Bashar al-Assad. Nyima Pratten reports.