Syrian rebel leader says he will dissolve toppled regime forces, close prisons

A man shows two ropes tied in the shape of nooses, found in the infamous Saydnaya military prison, Syria. Picture: AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - told Reuters in a written statement on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the toppled regime of Bashar al-Assad.

His forces swept across Syria in a lightning offensive that overthrew 50 years of Assad family rule, replacing it with a three-month transitional government of ministers that had been ruling a rebel enclave in Syria's northwest.