Head of Syria’s new administration Ahmed al-Sharaa received a Christian delegation on New Year’s Eve in Damascus on Tuesday.
The delegation included representatives of Christian sects in a bid to reassure Syria’s minorities over the new rulers that ousted Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8.
Sharaa was seen wearing a suit and tie as he met with the clerics, who included representatives of the Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Assyrian Orthodox and Protestant churches, showed photos posted by the Syrian General Command posted on Telegram.
Earlier, a Syrian official told AFP that Sharaa held "positive" talks with delegates of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday.
The talks were Sharaa's first with Kurdish commanders since his opposition fighters overthrew Assad and come as the SDF is locked in fighting with Turkish-backed factions in northern Syria.
The US-backed SDF spearheaded the military campaign that ousted ISIS fighters from their last territory in Syria in 2019.
But Türkiye, which has long had ties with Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, accuses the main component of the SDF of links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
On Sunday, Sharaa told Al Arabiya television that Kurdish-led forces should be integrated into the new national army.
"Weapons must be in the hands of the state alone. Whoever is armed and qualified to join the defense ministry, we will welcome them," he said.
