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Syria's rebel factions will be "disbanded," the head of the group that led the ouster of Bashar al-Assad has pledged, as tensions flare between separate Turkish-backed rebels and Kurdish forces in the country's northwest.

Assad fled Syria on 8 December, as rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) captured the capital Damascus, ending decades of brutal dictatorship and years of civil war.

HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has sought to reassure minorities at home and governments abroad that the country's interim leaders will protect all Syrians, regardless of sect or ethnicity, as well as state institutions.

Meeting Monday with members of the Druze community, he said all rebel factions would "be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defence ministry".

"All will be subject to the law," he added, according to posts on the group's Telegram channel.

He also emphasised the need for unity in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country.

"Syria must remain united," he said. "There must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice".

Sharaar’s comments come as the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Washington brokered mediation efforts failed to reach a permanent ceasefire with Syria's Turkey-backed rebels in the northern cities of Manbij and Kobani, according to head of the SDF's media center Farhad Shami on Monday.

Shami blamed the collapse of the mediation on "Turkey's approach in dealing with the mediation efforts and its evasion to accept key points".

The Turks are not happy about the ceasefire deal and Turkey prefers to keep maximum pressure on SDF, a Syrian opposition source told the Reuters news agency.

Last week, the SDF said they reached a ceasefire agreement with the Turkey-backed rebels in Manbij "to ensure the safety and security of civilians".

The HTS-led rebels that defeated Assad are not involved in any Turkish-backed military action against the SDF, with representatives of the Kurdish forces meeting with the Syrian Transitional Government in an attempt to smooth out and establish relations.

Along with simmering tensions between the Turkish-aligned forces in the northwest and the SDF, Israel continues to carry out an unprecedented amount of air strikes on Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday that Israel has carried out more than 470 strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad fled.

The United States also said it carried out air strikes in Syria on Monday that killed a dozen Islamic State group fighters, as it tries to prevent the group from capitalising on Assad's fall.

Agencies contributed to this report