Syria's leader says elections could take 4 years

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV on Sunday that elections could take four years, noted the importance of ties with Iran and Russia, and called for the United States to lift sanctions.

"The election process could take four years," Sharaa told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya.

"We need to rewrite the constitution" which could take "two or three years", added Sharaa.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted in 2015, outlined a roadmap for a political transition in Syria that included drafting a new constitution and holding U.N.-supervised elections.

Visiting U.N. special envoy Geir Pedersen this month said he hoped Syria would "adopt a new constitution... and that we will have free and fair elections" after a transitional period.

Diplomats from the United States, Türkiye, the European Union and Arab countries who met in Jordan this month also called for "an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government formed through a transparent process".

An interim government has been appointed to steer the country until March 1.

Sharaa expressed hope that the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would lift sanctions imposed under Assad on the now war-torn and impoverished country.

"The sanctions on Syria were issued based on the crimes that the regime committed," Sharaa said, adding that since Assad was gone, "these sanctions should be removed automatically".

Russia, Iran

Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), rooted in Syria's Al-Qaeda branch, is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by many governments including the United States, though it has recently sought to moderate its rhetoric and vowed to protect Syria's religious...