Syria's Assad to be sworn in while world looks away

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is to be sworn in Wednesday for a new term in a war-ravaged country, as other conflicts in the turbulent region hog the international community's attention.
      
Assad will be sworn in for another seven-year term at his palace overlooking the capital, more than three years into a war that has killed more than 170,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.
      
The 48-year-old autocrat won a June 3 election slammed as a "farce" by detractors, as his troops continue to pound rebel-held areas, now focusing on Aleppo in the north.
      
During the first two years of the anti-Assad armed revolt, opposition backers in the West and the Arab world repeatedly insisted he must go.        

But the rise of the jihadist Islamic State (IS) has turned the tide and raised fears, especially in Europe, over the future.
      
"The situation in the Middle East is changing very fast. Unfortunately for Syrians, the instability has distracted the international community's attention," sighed Samir Nashar, a veteran Syrian dissident and member of the opposition National Coalition.
      
The world, he added, cannot make up its mind whether it should focus primarily "on the Islamic State, Iraq or Egypt".
      
Nashar said Assad has managed to portray his regime as a more acceptable option "in comparison to the Islamic State and extremism, especially in the eyes of European countries."       

Analysts say the rise of jihadists has been a  "gift" for Assad, who from the outset in March 2011 branded the revolt against his regime as a foreign-backed "terrorist plot".
      
The Syrian leader will try to take advantage of...