Arab nationalists

President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria on July 17, after officially winning 95 percent of the vote in an election dismissed abroad.

It was the second presidential poll since the start of a decade-long civil war that has killed almost half a million people and battered the country's infrastructure.

Syrian politician Ammar Haidar, imprisoned by the Bashar Assad regime in 2009, reunited with his daughter Marwa Haidar in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul after 12 years.

Born in Hama, Syria, Haidar, since his youth, has opposed the Assad family due to their anti-democratic practices.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected for a fourth seven-year term in a presidential election on Wednesday dismissed by the opposition as a sham, news wires reported. Al-Assad won 95.1% of the valid votes, head of the Syrian parliament Hamoud Sabagh said. Some 78.6% of eligible voters cast ballots inside and outside Syria, Sabagh added at a press conference in Damascus.

Syria's Higher Judicial Committee for Presidential Elections informed that the polls in the presidential election have closed.

"The election is over, the vote count has begun," the committee stated, quoted by the SANA news agency.

 Syrians on Wednesday morning headed for the polling stations to cast their votes and choose the president of the Syrian Arab Republic from among three candidates: Abdullah Abdullah, Bashar al-Assad and Mahmoud Mar'ai, while determined to achieve the success of this entitlement which is a sovereign national entitlement.

The first 24 hours of the partial ceasefire secured in Syria seemed to cause some cautious optimism for the implementation of the U.S.-Russia agreement, billed as "the last chance" for keeping the war-torn country united.

Turkish Prime Minsiter Ahmet Davutoglu stated that negotiating with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is like shaking Adolf Hitler’s hand, underlining Turkey’s differing views to the USA as far as negotiating with the Syrian leader goes.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu on March 17 rubbished suggestions that talks should be held with President Bashar al-Assad, saying that negotiating with the Syrian leader would be no different from shaking hands with Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu on March 17 rubbished suggestions that talks should be held with President Bashar al-Assad, saying negotiating with the Syrian leader was no different to shaking hands with Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler.
     

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will never be part of peace negotiations to halt the brutal civil war, US officials vowed March 16, adding they were taking every step to bring an end to his rule.