The opening of the ceremony was announced by Parliament Speaker Jihad al-Laham, and followed by an honor guard review, during which Assad walked past the guard on a red carpet into the al-Sha' ab Palace in the capital Damascus on the beats of symphonic pieces and national anthem.
Upon arriving into the hall, Assad was greeted by heavy clapping of Syrian delegations covering all spectral of the Syrian society that attended the ceremony.
Assad then was invited by Laham to the podium to take the oath, swearing on the Islam's holy book, the Quran, to honor the country 's constitution and to look after the people's interests and freedoms.
Following the oath-taking routine, Assad announced his new administration will not stop fighting "terrorism" but will push forward the effort for national reconciliation and reconstruction.
"Since the first days of the aggression, we have decided to go on two parallel paths: striking terrorism without wavering and embarking on national reconciliations with those desirous of returning from the wrong path," he said, urging the rebels to abandon their rebellion against the government.
"I repeat my calls today to all those who have held weapons to lay their weapons down because we will not stop fighting terrorism and striking it wherever located until we restore peace to all spots in Syria."
Taking a swipe at the regional and Western backers of the rebellion in Syria, Assad said "soon we will see the Arab, regional and Western countries that supported the terrorism in Syria paying a steep price and a lot of them would later understand that the battles being fought by the Syrian people to defend their country would exceed the borders of the homeland to protect other peoples of the region whose countries would also suffer from the terrorism."
The Syrian government has long maintained that it has been fighting foreign-backed terrorists set to undermine the administration since the civil war broke out shortly after opposition protesters sought Assad's ouster in March 2011.
The conflict has since witnessed the death of over 100,000 people with millions of other Syrians displaced in neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, the President underscored the importance of the national dialogue, saying "it's a dialogue about the future of the homeland and the shape of the state in all domains."
The president also emphasized that reconstruction will also be one of the main goals of his new term, adding that the reconstruction process should start immediately, not to wait until the end of the crisis.
"Let's start rebuilding Syria hand in hand and prove that the will of the Syrians is stronger than the schemes of the terrorists, " he said.
"The reconstruction process is the economical title of the upcoming phase and we will all focus our efforts to rebuild other sectors that would be complementary to the reconstruction process, " he added.
"The new stage has begun, and we are ready for it. Syria deserves all our efforts, sweat, and work, and we will not begrudge it anything, just as our heroes didn't begrudge it their blood and their lives. I will remain the person who belongs to you, living among you, finding guidance in your opinions and enlightenment in your awareness," Assad concluded.(KH/SI)
