Ahmed al-Shara Vows to Disband and Integrate Syria’s Armed Factions

The leader of the rebel coalition that took power in Syria this month said that all armed opposition groups in the country would be dissolved, Syrian state media reported on Tuesday, as the new government worked to build a functioning state.

Ahmed al-Shara, the head of the coalition, said that the rebel fighters would be brought under the authority of the defense ministry. It was not clear how or when this would be achieved, or whether the competing armed factions would agree.

But Mr. al-Shara said, “Everyone will be subject to the law,” according to Syria’s state news agency, SANA.

His comments came more than a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, as the new authorities in Damascus sought to project stability after 13 years of civil war, while aiming to shore up international recognition through a series of meetings with diplomats from Europe, the United Nations and the Middle East.

As regional powers continued to jockey for control and influence in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel made a trip on Tuesday to territory in southwestern Syria that his country’s military seized after rebels toppled the Assad regime. Israeli forces have pushed beyond Israeli-controlled areas in the Golan Heights and a buffer zone along the border for the first time in decades, capturing an area that includes the summit of Mount Hermon.