New elections in Syria could take up to four years, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a broadcast interview.
It is the first time he has given a timeline for possible elections in Syria since his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group led a rebel offensive that ousted former president Bashar al-Assad.
In an interview with Saudi state television Al Arabiya on Sunday, he said drafting a new constitution could take up to three years.
He said it could be a year before Syrians begin to see significant changes and improvements in public services after the ousting of the Assad regime.
Shara said Syria needed to restore its legal system and would need to conduct a comprehensive population census to hold legitimate elections.
Sharaa – formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani – leads the country's new authorities after Assad's presidency fell earlier this month.
Since then, questions have been raised about how HTS will govern the multi-ethnic country.
HTS began as a jihadist group – espousing violence to achieve its goal of creating a state governed by Islamic (Sharia) law – but has distanced itself from that past in recent years.
Shara said the group, once linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida and designated a terrorist organization by the United Nations and many countries, would be “disbanded” at an upcoming national dialogue conference, but gave no further details.
The meeting could be the first test of whether Syria's new leadership can achieve its promised goal of reunifying the country after thirteen years of civil war.
Responding to criticism of his transitional government, he said the appointments made were “essential” and not intended to exclude anyone.
Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shiites, and Arab Sunnis, the latter of whom make up the majority of the Muslim population.
His group pledged to protect the rights and freedoms of minorities in the country.
Meanwhile, nearly 300 people have been arrested in the past week in a crackdown on Assad loyalists, according to a Britain-based military monitor.
Those arrested include informants, regime fighters and former soldiers, said the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.
He told AFP that the arrests were made “with the assistance of the local population”.
Syria's state news agency Sana also reported arrests this week targeting “members of Assad's militia” in which weapons and ammunition were seized.