Syria's Assad Sworn In, Gives Defiant Speech
Source: Newsweek
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Bashar al-Assad was sworn in on Wednesday as Syria's president for a new term, after an election his opponents dismiss as a sham but his supporters say proves that a rebellion to unseat him has failed after three years of war.
After taking the oath of office before a Koran and a copy of the constitution, the president of 14 years delivered a defiant speech, vowing to recover all Syria from Islamist insurgents.
Looking calm and confident, he repeatedly took aim at the West and Sunni Muslim Gulf Arab monarchies who have funded and armed the rebels that have taken control of much of the north and east of the country but failed to topple him in Damascus.
"Soon we will see the Arab, regional and Western states that supported terrorism pay a high price," he said in the speech at the presidential palace in Damascus, broadcast on state TV.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/syrias-assad-be-sworn-new-seven-year-term-259117
The United States continues to aid and abet this failed civil war. It is a cynical ploy. We know the revolution is strategically defeated, but we want enough Syrians to continue to die to force Assad to negotiate his own departure. Like that's going to happen.
And we shall see in coming years if Assad is right about the price we pay for supporting "terrorism." Lots of European and even American jihadis are getting their training in Syria, and now, Iraq.
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