Assad calls for parliament elections in April

Syrian President Bashar Assad has called for parliamentary elections to be held in April.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted in December calls for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held during an 18-month transition period that would end the five-year-old conflict in Syria.

But the country was due for parliament elections anyway, as the current parliament’s term expires in May. Assad announced in a decree issued Monday that new parliament elections would be April 13. Such elections are held once every four years.

The announcement came hours after the US and Russia agreed on a temporary cessation of hostilities for Syria that will take effect Saturday, even as major questions over enforcing the truce were left unresolved.