Syria’s de facto chief Ahmed al-Sharaa mentioned Sunday that holding elections might take as much as 4 years, marking his first touch upon a possible timeline since Bashar Assad’s ouster earlier this month.
Drafting a brand new structure might take as much as three years, al-Sharaa mentioned in excerpts from the interview with the Saudi state-owned broadcaster, Al Arabiya. He additionally mentioned it could take a couple of yr for Syrians to see drastic adjustments.
Al-Sharaa leads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group that ousted Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, ending many years of Assad household rule and a 13-year civil conflict. He mentioned HTS might be dissolved in a nationwide dialogue convention.
On overseas ties, al-Sharaa mentioned Syria has strategic pursuits with Russia. Russia has navy bases in Syria, was an in depth Assad ally in the course of the lengthy civil conflict and has granted Assad asylum.
He mentioned earlier this month that Syria’s relations with Russia ought to serve widespread pursuits.
Al-Sharaa additionally mentioned he hopes the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will raise sanctions imposed on Syria.
Senior U.S. diplomats who visited Damascus this month mentioned al-Sharaa got here throughout as pragmatic and that Washington has determined to take away a $10 million bounty on the HTS chief’s head.
Source: www.dailysabah.com