Syria's de facto leader al-Sharaa says it could take four years to hold elections

Syria's de facto leader has said it could take up to four years to hold elections in the country and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit.

Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiya.

In the interview, he estimated it could up to three years to write a new constitution, adding that "any valid elections will require a comprehensive population census."

It comes almost a month after the group spearheaded a lightning insurgency that overthrew long-time President Bashar Assad and ending the country's uprising-turned civil war that started in 2011.

Al-Sharaa said it would take time to hold elections because of the need for Syria's different forces to hold political dialogue following five decades of the al-Assad dynasty's dictatorial rule.

Also, the war-torn country's battered infrastructure needs to be reconstructed, he said.

"The chance we have today doesn't come every five or 10 years," said al-Sharaa.

"We want the constitution to last for the longest time possible."

Al-Sharaa will remain as Syria's de facto leader until 1 March, when Syria's different factions are set to hold a dialogue to determine the country's political future and establish a transitional government that brings the divided country together.

There, he said, HTS will dissolve after years of being the country's most dominant rebel group that held a strategic enclave in the country's northwest.

Israeli strikes on Syria

Earlier, an Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of al-Assad.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to al-Assad’s forces near the industrial town of Adra, northeast of the capital.

The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed.

The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday.

Israel, which has launched hundreds of airstrikes across Syria since the country's uprising turned-civil war broke out in 2011, rarely acknowledges them.

It says its targets are Iran-backed groups that backed al-Assad.

Unlike his criticism of key al-Assad ally Iran, al-Sharaa hoped to maintain "strategic relations" with Russia, whose air force played a critical role in keeping Assad in power for over a decade during the conflict.

The HTS leader also said negotiations are ongoing with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in north-eastern Syria and hopes that their armed forces will integrate with the Syrian security agencies.

The Kurdish-led group is Washington's key ally in Syria, where it is heavily involved in targeting sleeper cells belonging to the extremist so-called Islamic State group.

Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been clashing with the SDF even after the insurgency, taking the key city of Manbij, as Ankara hopes to create a buffer zone near its border in northern Syria.

The rebels attacked near the strategic northern border town of Kobani, while the SDF shared a video of a rocket attack that destroyed what it said was a radar system south of the city of Manbij.