Syria's new leader pledges 'national dialogue conference'

Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, promised Thursday to hold a "national dialogue conference" in his first address to the nation since the fall of ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.

Sharaa, who was appointed interim president a day earlier for an unspecified transitional period, vowed to preserve "civil peace" and Syria's territorial unity.

"We will announce in the coming days a committee charged with preparing the national dialogue conference, a direct platform for discussions, to listen to different points of view on our future political programme," Sharaa said in the prerecorded televised address.

Sharaa also committed to issuing a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the country's transition, following the suspension of the old constitution.