BEIRUT, December 19. /TASS/. Syria’s new authorities have nothing to do with the Al Qaeda terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) and are acting in the interests of their country, Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said.

"We have severed ties with Al Qaeda. Our relations [with this group] are a thing of the past. <…> Now, we have no relations with any external groups or players," the Al Arabiya television channel quoted him as saying.

"Now I am acting in Syria’s supreme interests," he said, adding that he never took part in hostilities in Iraq.

Armed opposition units in Syria launched a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates in late November. On December 8, they entered Damascus, while President Bashar Assad stepped down and fled the country. On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had led the so-called Syrian Salvation Government in the Idlib governorate, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government, saying that the transitional period will last until March 1, 2025.