State TV broadcast what it said was a live ceremony from the presidential palace in Damascus, during which Assad took the oath of office.
He was seen placing his hand on Islam's holy book, the Qur'an, pledging to honour the country's constitution in front of a large audience of members of parliament and Muslim and Christian clergymen.
Assad was re-elected last month in a landslide victory amid a civil war, in a vote dismissed by the opposition and its Western allies as a sham.
He won 88.7 per cent of the ballots cast in Syria's first multi-candidate elections in decades, but no voting took place in areas where there is heavy fighting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10971214/Bashar-al-Assad-sworn-in-for-new-term-as-Syrian-president.html
State TV broadcast what it said was a live ceremony from the presidential palace in Damascus, during which Assad took the oath of office.
He was seen placing his hand on Islam's holy book, the Qur'an, pledging to honour the country's constitution in front of a large audience of members of parliament and Muslim and Christian clergymen.
Assad was re-elected last month in a landslide victory amid a civil war, in a vote dismissed by the opposition and its Western allies as a sham.
He won 88.7 per cent of the ballots cast in Syria's first multi-candidate elections in decades, but no voting took place in areas where there is heavy fighting.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10971214/Bashar-al-Assad-sworn-in-for-new-term-as-Syrian-president.html