Ahmad Al-Sharaa, the interim president of Syria and a former rebel, met with Turkish officials in the Syrian capital, including Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s foreign minister, Yasar Guler, defence minister, and Ibrahim Kalin, the head of national intelligence. They were accompanied by Turkey’s ambassador to Syria, Burhan Koroglu.

The scenes of elation following Monday night's declaration came in sharp contrast to the grim scenes in coastal communities wracked by days of clashes.

The Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls much of Syria's oil-rich northeast, signed a deal with the Damascus government to join Syria's new state institutions.