Syrians in government-controlled areas cast ballots Wednesday for a new 250-member parliament, ABC News reported.

"This war is not only about terrorism," Syrian President Bashar Al Assad told a state TV reporter. 

"It is true that terrorism managed to destroy much of the infrastructure and it managed to shed lots of blood, but it failed to realize the main goal, which is to strike at the main infrastructure in Syria, the social infrastructure and the national identity."

Assad and his wife, Asma, cast their ballots at the Assad Library in Damascus.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said after voting that "we in Syria always say that the Syrian people decide their destiny and today they are proving practically the accuracy of this saying."

Source: MENA