New Syrian leaders say they want to contribute to 'regional peace'

Syria wants to contribute to "regional peace", the country's new authorities said late Friday, after a meeting between leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and a US diplomatic delegation.

"The Syrian side indicated that the Syrian people stand at an equal distance from all countries and parties in the region and that Syria rejects any polarisation," the statement said.

It said the new authorities wanted to "affirm Syria's role in promoting regional peace and building privileged strategic partnerships with countries in the region".

A Syrian official had previously told AFP that the meeting between al-Sharaa -- known previously by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani -- and the US delegation led by Barbara Leaf, head of the Middle East at the State Department, was "positive".

Al-Sharaa, the leader of the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that seized power in Damascus, was previously the target of US sanctions.

But after their first formal contact in Damascus on Friday, Washington announced it had dropped a bounty for his arrest.

"Based on our discussion, I told him that we were dropping the offer of a reward," Leaf told reporters.

She said she told the new Syrian leader of the "critical need to ensure that terrorist groups cannot pose a threat inside Syria or outside, including to the United States and our partners in the region".

He "committed to doing so", she said, adding he had appeared to her as "pragmatic".

HTS, which leads the victorious coalition of armed groups in Damascus, claims to have broken with jihadism and has sought to reassure people of its ability to revive the country after nearly 14 years of civil war.

France, Germany, Britain, and the United Nations have also sent emissaries to Damascus in recent days to establish contacts with the new authorities.

The West is wary of the risk of fragmentation of the country and the resurgence of the jihadist group Islamic State, which has never been completely eradicated there.