Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has been inaugurated for a second, seven-year term.

He was sworn into office in front of the 250-seat People's Assembly on Tuesday, using the occasion to call on Israel to make clear its willingness to make peace with Syria.

"We do not want secret talks. We ask Israel's leaders to state in a clear and official manner their desire for peace," he said.

Peace talks between Syria and Israel have been frozen since January 2000.

Damascus has demanded the return of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war and annexed unilaterally in 1981.

"We want Israel's leaders to give guarantees that all of our land will be returned," said al-Assad.

Referendum

Al-Assad won his second term in a referendum in May, in which he secured 97 per cent as the sole candidate. His critics dismissed the poll as a sham.

Al-Assad first took office in 2000 after the death of Hafez al-Assad, his father, who ruled Syria for three decades.

The country's Baath party, which has ruled Syria under emergency law since it came to power in 1963, increased its presence in parliament after the referendum, which was boycotted by the opposition.

Syria is facing pressure from the US which accuses Syria of fomenting unrest in Iraq.

Bassam Abdel Majid, Syria's interior minister, told a televised news conference that al-Assad had managed international relations "while remaining faithful to national causes".

"Syria has undergone all sorts of pressure to renounce its national stand but it has remained true to its positions, allowing it to overcome challenges," he said.

The US has also called for Syria to stop interfering in neighbouring Lebanon, which is in the midst of a paralysing political standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian factions.

PHOTO CAPTION

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad waves to his supporters in Damascus, May 2007. (AFP)

AlJazeera