Assad sworn in for 3rd Syria term
Print Edition
PROCLAIMING the Syrian people winners in a “dirty war” waged by outsiders, President Bashar Assad was sworn in yesterday, marking the start of his third seven-year term in office amid a bloody civil war that has ravaged the Arab country.
Looking confident and self-assured, and occasionally making jokes, Assad declared victory over terrorism and said countries that supported the Syrian opposition “will pay a high price.”
The grandiose ceremony at the presidential palace in Damascus caps what has been a recent reversal of fortune on the battlefield for Assad’s forces battling the rebellion against him. In the past year, the 48-year-old leader has managed to seize the momentum in the civil war, with his troops making steady advances on several fronts against outgunned rebels bogged down by infighting.
Syrian state TV showed Assad arriving at the People’s Palace in the Qassioun Mountain, the scenic plateau that overlooks the capital from the north.
A band played the Syrian national anthem after which Assad was seen walking a red carpet past an honor guard into a hall packed with members of parliament and Christian and Muslim clergyman.
Wearing a dark blue suit and a blue shirt and tie, Assad placed his hand on Islam’s holy book, the Quran, pledging to honor the country’s constitution. “I swear by the Almighty God to respect the country’s constitution, laws and its republican system and to look after the interests of the people and their freedoms,” he said to thunderous applause from the audience.
He then praised the Syrian people for holding the vote and for “defeating the dirty war” launched on the Syrian people.
“They wanted it to be a revolution but you were the real rebels,” he said. “They failed in trying to brainwash you, or break your will.”
Throughout the crisis, Assad has maintained that the conflict that has torn his nation apart was a Western-backed conspiracy executed by terrorists.
As the conflict slid into civil war, Assad refused to step down and last month, he was re-elected in a landslide victory.
He won 88.7 percent of the ballots cast in the first multicandidate elections in decades.
The voting didn’t take place in opposition-held areas of Syria, effectively excluding millions of people from the vote.
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