Assad says Aleppo’s capture also ‘victory’ for Iranian and Russian allies

AMMAN – Reuters

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Dec. 22 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 air force conducted hundreds of raids that pulverized 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.    

The Russian air force has killed 35,000 fighters in Syria during its air campaign since September 2015, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Dec. 22.

Russian warplanes made 71,000 strikes and “liquidated 725 training camps, 405 weapon factories and workshops, 1,500 pieces of terrorist equipment, and 35,000 fighters, including 204 field commanders,” he said.