The leader of the former rebel group that toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad has been named the country’s interim president, following a meeting of the former insurgent factions.

Sharaa, leader of Syria’s rebel forces, has been appointed interim president following the overthrow of Bashar Assad, as the country prepares for a new constitution.

Syria’s new leaders said Wednesday they had discussed “transitional justice” with the first Russian official delegation to visit Damascus since the toppling of long-term Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad. The visit came with Russia keen to secure the fate of two military bases in Syria and after Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had suffered