Sharaa, Syria’s president, spoke to The Economist on January 31st in Damascus. The conversation has been translated and lightly edited for clarity. The Economist: Maybe you could start by giving me a sense of your vision for Syria.

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.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has welcomed Ahmed Al-Sharaa on assumption of office as President of the Syrian Arab Republic during the transitional phase. In a post on social media platform X, he expressed hope that the new leadership will be able to bring peace, progress and prosperity to the brotherly people of Syria.

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.

Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, was declared Syria's head of state for a transitional phase and empowered to form a new legislative council, state media

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has been named president for the "transitional period", state media report, seven weeks after he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Bashar al-Assad. Rebel military commander Hassan Abdul Ghani also announced the cancellation of Syria's 2012 constitution and the dissolution of the former regime's parliament,

President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of congratulations to Ahmed Al Sharaa on the occasion of assuming the presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic for the transitional period.