Hussein al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of Syria's rebel offensive that overthrew the regime of Bashar al-Assad, said on Tuesday that Syria was "exhausted" by war and would not be heading back into one.
"Syria will be rebuilt... The country is moving towards development and reconstruction. It's going towards stability," Jolani told Sky News.
This marks Jolani's first public statement to an international broadcaster since the fall of the Assad regime.
"People are exhausted from war. So the country isn't ready for another one, and it's not going to get into another one," he continued.
Jolani also sought to reassure Western audiences regarding the nature of post-Assad rule in Syria, asserting that "the West has nothing to fear".
Syria’s new prime minister Mohammed al-Bashir also on Tuesday echoed Jolani's comments, saying it was time for "stability and calm" in the country.
"Now it is time for these people to enjoy stability and calm," Bashir told Al Jazeera television in his first interview since being appointed.
The comments come as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all nations to support an "inclusive" political process in Syria, saying Washington would eventually recognise a government if it meets such standards.
Blinken said the future government of Syria should be "credible, inclusive and non-sectarian".
Laying out US priorities, Blinken said the new government must "uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities" and allow the flow of humanitarian assistance.
The US lists Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that Jolani leads and that led the rebel offensive, as a terrorist organisation due to its previous links to Al-Qaeda, which the group now strenuously disavows.
Jolani, Bashir and Blinken’s comments come as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is led by the Kurdish YPG, retreated from the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, which they moved into after Assad regime forces withdrew.
The Syrian rebels who ousted Assad said on Tuesday that they had taken the city, a former stronghold of the Islamic State group (IS), while a war monitor confirmed Kurdish forces had withdrawn.
The SDF allegedly withdrew to the Al-Omar and Al-Busayrah oil fields.
"Our forces have seized the entire city of Deir ez-Zor," the rebels said in a statement, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that Kurdish forces had withdrawn to other localities.
The withdrawal comes as the Kurdish forces began to face popular protests in the city and as Arab forces affiliated with the SDF announced their defection to the Syrian rebels.
Abu Al-Harith Al-Shaiti, the leader of the previously SDF-aligned Hajin Military Council, confirmed the defection of his forces to the HTS-backed rebels and pledged allegiance to the new transitional government.
In parallel to this in the west of Syria, the commander-in-chief of the SDF said on Tuesday that his forces reached a ceasefire with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) in the city of Manbij.
Mazloum Abdi said an agreement had been reached with Turkey and the SNA, with US mediation, “to preserve the security and safety of civilians,” adding that “the fighters of the Manbij Military Council, who have been resisting the attacks since November 27, will be removed from the area as soon as possible.”
The United States has invested a lot of resources in the SDF as a ground force against a potential resurgence of IS. However, the Syrian rebels have shown themselves more than capable of fighting and defeating IS, with HTS and SNA forces crushing them in Idlib in 2017.