Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa said on Monday it would take between four and five years to hold presidential elections, the first time he has laid out a timeline for the vote since he was named transitional president last week.

He had spent the day with the leaders of Syria’s myriad armed factions, trying to persuade them to disband. Over seven weeks after the fall of Damascus, the fate of these groups is still uncertain. His aides claim that all militias will be dissolved and then absorbed into a new national army.

As president, al-Sharaa has also been authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopt