Syrian forces liberate SE Aleppo district from terrorists’ grip
Syrian government troops and their allies have managed to retake full control of a neighborhood in the southeast of Aleppo, which has been turned into a major frontline in the fight against terrorists.
An unidentified Syrian military source announced the recapture of the Sheikh Saeed district on Wednesday.
However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that terrorist groups still controlled a third of the neighborhood.
Separately on Wednesday, Russia expressed its readiness to escort aid agencies into recently retaken areas of eastern Aleppo.
Lieutenant General Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military's General Staff said that despite the announcement, Moscow had not received any requests from the United Nations or anyone else so far.
Rudskoi also noted that the Syrian government forces had completely purged terrorists from the Castello road, the only supply line into the militant-held eastern Aleppo.
The Russian official further stressed that his country’s air force had not conducted anti-terror airstrikes on Aleppo over the past 44 days.
Syria has been gripped by deadly foreign-sponsored militancy for over five years. The situation in Aleppo is of particular concern as the city remains divided between government forces in the west and terrorists in the east.
In another development on Wednesday, the Kremlin demanded an explanation from Turkey over President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent comments against his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
Erdogan said on Tuesday that the Turkish army entered Syria in order to topple Assad, saying, "We went in there to put an end to the rule of the tyrant Assad who carries out state terror, not for anything else.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Erdogan's assertion "really came as news," adding that it “is not in harmony with previous statements" and "not in harmony with our understanding of the situation.”
Syria also censured Erdogan’s remarks, saying his assertion proves that he is a "liar."
An unnamed source at Syria’s Foreign Ministry told the official SANA news agency that the Turkish president has turned his country into a base for terrorists, who undermine security and stability in Syria and Iraq and cause the suffering of the innocent.
“It’s ironic that a tyrant like Erdogan would talk about democracy when he has transformed Turkey into a big prison for everyone who opposes his policy,” the source said.
Syria is currently fighting Erdogan’s "pawns and proxies," the official said, further emphasizing that Syria will not allow Erdogan to interfere in its domestic affairs and will cut off the hands of those trying to harm the country.
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