Syrian rebel leader Riyad al-Assad expressed in an interview with Agence France-Presse his confidence that the various rebel factions that participated in the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad's regime will be able to unite and act together after years of war, BTA reports.
AFP notes that it interviewed Riyad al-Assad on Sunday at a Damascus hotel.
Al-Assad, a former colonel, left the Syrian air force in July 2011, when the Syrian authorities began a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. He founded the Free Syrian Army, which attracted dissident fighters and became one of the most important opposition groups in the 13-year-old Syrian conflict.
Bashar Assad was overthrown on December 8 after a coalition of armed groups led by radical Islamists from "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" launched a lightning offensive against government forces.
A transitional government was formed in Syria after Assad was overthrown.
Riyadh al-Assad said he was working closely with "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" and expressed confidence that Syria's new government would try to unite the various rebel factions.
The "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" group, which is the former branch of "Al Qaeda" in Syria, says it has broken with jihadism, but continues to appear on the lists of terrorist organizations of several Western countries, including the United States, AFP notes.
After the fall of Bashar Assad, "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" and the interim government have emphasized that the rights of all Syrians will be respected.
Some groups that participated with "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" in the offensive against government forces are representatives of religious or ethnic minorities, AFP notes.
Rebel forces were deployed in the southeast of Damascus to stop looters who looted a residential complex and set fire to several apartments, the Associated Press reported.
Rebel forces have made it a priority to maintain security in Damascus, where looting of some private properties has been observed.