“When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war,” Syria’s state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying at a meeting of the new cabinet on Tuesday.
The Syrian government will continue to fight against “armed terrorist groups,” he added.
The Syrian president also dismissed the West’s arguments, saying the West “takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage.”
“We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie,” he added.
Members of Syria’s new government under Prime Minister Riad Farid Hijab, who was appointed on June 6, were sworn in on Tuesday.
The new government, with 20 new ministers and six new ministries, includes two opposition figures from the People’s Will Party and the newly created Ministry of National Reconciliation.
But the foreign, defense, and interior ministers remained unchanged.
On Saturday, the president issued a decree forming a new government as part of his reform efforts.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011.
JMA/HGL
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