Hafez al-Assad

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was sworn in Wednesday for a new seven-year term, warning Western and Arab governments they will pay dearly for backing those who took up arms against him.
      
In a triumphant speech delivered after he took the oath of office at a red carpet ceremony in Damascus, Assad branded the 2011 Arab uprisings a "fake spring".
      

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.
      

Both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and jihadist groups battling to oust him stand to benefit from a lightning offensive by militants across the border in Iraq, analysts believe.

Fighters from the powerful jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group began an offensive in Iraq on Monday, taking a swathe of mostly Sunni Arab territory in the north.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has secured a landslide victory in a wartime election that was condemned as a sham by his opponents but demonstrated his tenacious hold on power after three years of brutal civil war.

Syrians are voting in a presidential election on Tuesday, with incumbent Bashar al-Assad in pole position to win a third term.

The opposition has labeled the vote as a "farce", manipulated by the ruling party. Polling stations have only been opened in the government-controlled areas, while people in the rebel-held regions will not be able to have their say, the BBC reports.

Syrians voted as fighting raged June 3 in a presidential election in which Bashar al-Assad is looking to tighten his grip as his forces battle rebels in a devastating three-year war.

Assad is facing two little-known challengers and is expected to win, despite a massive rebellion and a war which the U.N. has warned is likely to drag on even longer as a result of the vote.

Voting offices opened June 3 in Syrian regime-held areas for a presidential election that Bashar al-Assad is expected to win, and that has been slammed as a "farce" by the opposition.

Nearly 2,000 civilians, including 567 children, have been killed in a massive air offensive this year by Syrian regime forces on the northern province of Aleppo, a monitor said Friday.