Syria’s Assad sworn in for third term

Bashar al-Assad has been sworn in for a new seven-year term as the president of Syria after an election victory that underlined his grip on power more than three years into Syria’s civil war.

The presidential election, dismissed as a sham by Assad’s opponents, was held last month in areas of central and northern
Syria that remain under state control.

The inaguration was at the Presidential Palace on Wednesday on Mount Mezzeh in the capital, Damascus.

Assad swore by the Quran before the country’s parliamentarians in an extraordinary session, more than three years into a civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.