SHAFAQNA – Addressing Friday prayer worshipers in Tehran yesterday prior to the main sermons, Sheikh Hassoun, who is in Iran to attend the 30th International Islamic Unity Conference, said, “For the liberation of the city of Aleppo, where all the terrorists have been forced to leave, I thank the Iranian nation.”
He said Syria achieved the victory with the will of God, adding that Lebanon, Gaza and Quds will also be liberated with God’s will.
Earlier this week, Syrian forces completed the liberation of Aleppo, with militants having surrendered most of their remaining territory.
Hundreds of foreign-backed militants have laid down arms in Aleppo in the past 24 hours. Almost 6,000 civilians have also left militant-held districts of the northwestern Syrian city over the past day.
Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial and industrial hub, had been divided roughly in two parts since 2012, with the government controlling the west and terrorists the east.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.