Assad says Aleppo's capture also "victory" for Iranian and Russian allies

Reuters

22 December 2016 at 6:42 am

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stands next to his wife Asma, as he addresses injured soldiers and their mothers during a celebration marking Syrian Mother's Day in Damascus, in this handout picture provided by SANA on March 21, 2016. SANA/Handout via REUTERS /Files

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday the regaining of full control of the northern city of Aleppo was a victory for his Russian and Iranian allies as much as his own country. In comments after meeting a senior Iranian delegation, Assad also said the battlefield successes were a "basic step on the road to ending terrorism in the whole of Syrian territory and creating the right circumstances for a solution to end the war". Russia's airforce conducted hundreds of raids that pulverised rebel-held parts of Aleppo while Iranian backed militias, led by Lebanese Hezbollah militia, poured thousands of fighters to fight rebels along the city's main frontlines. The last group of civilians and rebels holed up in a small enclave is expected to leave in the next 24 hours, with the army and its allies seizing all of the city. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Alison Williams)

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