Syria's newly sworn-in Assad warns West of backfire

AFP/Damascus

President Bashar al-Assad was sworn in Wednesday for a new term, warning Western and Arab governments of the backfire they face for their support of the armed revolt in Syria.

In a triumphant speech before an invited audience after taking the oath of office at a red carpet ceremony in Damascus, Assad mocked the "fake spring" of the 2011 Arab uprisings.

Assad, 48, won a June election denounced as a "farce" by his detractors, three years into a devastating war that has killed more than 170,000 people and uprooted millions.

"Syrians, three years and four months... have passed since some cried 'freedom'," Assad said in his address, broadcast live on national television, referring to the outbreak of the 2011 revolt.

"They wanted a revolution, but you have been the real revolutionaries. I congratulate you for your revolution and for your victory," he told  supporters at the start of a new seven-year term.

"The mask of freedom and the revolution has fallen."

Rebel mortar fire hit several districts of Damascus as Assad wound up his speech at the presidential palace, residents said.

State media said four people were killed.

Assad's inauguration comes with much of the world's attention focused elsewhere, as violence engulfs Iraq, Gaza and Libya, even as his forces pound rebel-held areas of Syria's second city, Aleppo.

During the first two years of the Syrian revolt, which began as a peaceful protest movement before transforming into an armed rebellion, the opposition's Western and Arab supporters repeatedly insisted he step down.

Assad has from the outset branded the revolt a foreign-backed "terrorist plot", refusing to recognise any genuine movement for change.

He won the election, held in government-controlled areas only, with 88.7 percent of the vote, defeating two little-known rival candidates.

Assad issued a fresh call Wednesday for "national dialogue", but ruled out talks with "those who have not proven their patriotism", referring to the exiled opposition.

"We stress the need to press on with national reconciliation to stop the bloodshed," said Assad, who regime has clinched a string of local truces around Damascus that activists say remain fragile.