Cairo-Despite allegations of fraud by many Western nations, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, officially re-elected for his fourth seven-year term in May, took an oath of office in Damascus on Saturday.

The military band welcomed Assad when he walked on the red carpet and made an oath before entering the palace and spoke with a large number of officials and officials.

Two Army officers carried copies of the Quran and Syrian Constitution, on which Assad swore.

In his speech, he said that the main cause of Syria’s current economic crisis was the freezing of its assets held by Lebanese banks. According to some estimates, Syria has $ 40 to $ 60 billion in Lebanese banks, which is sufficient to stall the economy and devalue Syria’s currency.

Chattar Abou Diab, a political science professor at the University of Paris, believes Assad has significantly overestimated the value of Syrian assets held in Lebanon, and the Lebanese government includes gasoline under pressure from Hezbollah. He told VOA that he was sending subsidized goods. , To support the Syrian economy.

According to Diab, Lebanon has been financially supporting Syria with subsidized gasoline and staple foods since 2016, so Assad is wrong to claim that Lebanon is the cause of Syria’s economic predicament. .. He argued that Syria is badly run and that various mafia figures, including Assad’s cousin and factions near his wife, dominate the economy.

Party points out aggravating factors

Members of Assad’s official Ba’ath Party and other supporters of his administration told state television that US government sanctions on Turkey and Kurdish control over Syria and parts of the country exacerbated the country’s economic crisis.

Washington-based Middle East analyst Paul Sullivan told VOA that the Assad administration “destroyed the Syrian economy with an F-minus economic policy and then with the slaughter of the people and the economy.” .. Syria’s frozen assets are “much less than what Assad and his associates stole from people,” he said.

According to official government tally, Assad won more than 95% of the votes in some government-controlled countries in the May 26 elections. Sullivan called the 95% figure a “pure dictatorial operation.”

Assad argued that neighboring Turkey, which still controls part of the country, “was trying to impose a will on the Syrian people, but that goal failed due to election results.”

Diab pointed out that in the days following the outbreak of the conflict in 2011, Assad’s supporters had claimed that “Assad or we would burn the country.” “Assad finally won the conflict,” he said. Dominates a mountain of smoked ruins. “

Assad’s father, Hafez, came to power in a coup d’etat in 1970 and ruled Syria for 30 years. When he died in 2000, his son succeeded him.