Fighters in southern Syria who helped topple President Bashar al-Assad are reluctant to disarm and disband as ordered by the country's new rulers, their spokesman told AFP.

An Islamist-led offensive ripped through Syria from the north and into Damascus on December 8, bringing to a sudden end five decades of rule by the Assad clan.

On December 25, the country's new Islamist rulers said they had reached an agreement with rebel groups on their dissolution and integration under the defence ministry.

New leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said the authorities would "absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control".

But a spokesman for the Southern Operations Room, a coalition of armed groups from the southern province of Daraa formed on December 6 to help topple Assad, said the alliance did not agree.

"We're not convinced by the idea of dissolving armed groups," said its spokesman Naseem Abu Orra.

"We're an........

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