Power is sweet Syria Case
… we need more time before elections says al-Sharaa
30.12.24
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa commented on a possible timetable for elections for the first time in an interview with the Saudi news channel, Al Arabiya, on Sunday.
Holding elections could “take up to four years” and drafting a new constitution could “take up to three,” al-Sharaa said, adding that it would take about a year for Syrians to see drastic changes.
The comment from al-Sharaa comes as the new government in Damascus has been seeking to reassure its neighbors that it has moved away from its roots in Islamist militancy.
Al-Sharaa, long known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leads the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group that ousted the Assad regime on December 8. He also said HTS, formerly known as the Nusra Front, would be dissolved at a national dialogue conference.
The group’s lightning campaign ended a 13-year civil war but has left a host of questions about the future of a multi-ethnic country previously held together by decades of authoritarian Assad family rule.
HTS, affiliated with Islamic State and al-Qaeda, has since renounced both and sought to reposition itself as a moderate force; repeatedly vowing to protect groups, who fear an Islamist government.
In the interview, Sharaa also said Syria shared strategic interests with Russia, a close Assad ally during the long civil war which has military bases in the country, reiterating conciliatory signals his government has made previously.
Aljazeera