CAIRO (Reuters) – Syrian de facto President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in an interview with Al Arabiya on Sunday that holding elections in Syria could take up to four years, marking the first time he has commented on a possible timetable for elections since the era of Bashar al-Assad. Assad was ousted this month.
Al-Sharaa said in excerpts from the interview with the state-owned Saudi Radio and Television Corporation that drafting a new constitution could take up to three years. He also said it would take about a year for Syrians to see radical changes.
Al-Sharaa leads Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, which ousted Bashar al-Assad on December 8, ending decades of Assad family rule and a 13-year civil war. He said that Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham will be dissolved at a national dialogue conference.
Regarding foreign relations, Al-Sharaa said that Syria has strategic interests with Russia. Russia has military bases in Syria, and was a close ally of Assad during the long civil war and granted Assad asylum.
Al-Sharaa said earlier this month that Syria's relations with Russia must serve common interests.
Al-Sharaa also expressed his hope that the administration of US President-elect Donald Trump would lift the sanctions imposed on Syria. Senior American diplomats who visited Damascus this month said that Al-Sharaa appeared to be a practical person and that Washington had decided to cancel a $10 million reward for the head of the leader of Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham.
