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.
In a wide-ranging interview three weeks after his Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and allied rebels ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad from power after a lightning offensive, Sharaa also said that local Kurdish-led forces which Turkey opposes should be integrated into the national army.
"The election process could take four years," Sharaa told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya.