Assad predicts win after gains

Syrian president confident after army says Aleppo now safe from shelling

DAMASCUS－Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated his forces on Monday for recent gains in northwestern Syria that led to his troops consolidating control over Aleppo Province, pledging to press ahead with a military campaign to achieve complete victory "sooner or later".

Following years of blind mortar shelling on its residential areas, the northern city of Aleppo has become safe from shelling after a wide-scale military operation.

Assad said in a televised address that the one-time economic hub of Aleppo, the provincial capital, will "return stronger than it was before".

After its liberation in 2016, Aleppo remained subject to mortar shelling by the rebels in the western and northwestern countryside of Aleppo, which claimed the lives of many people.

Over the past two months, the Syrian army launched a wide-scale offensive in the countryside of Aleppo Province and the countryside of the nearby Idlib Province in northwestern Syria.

The army captured key areas in the countryside of Idlib, but most notably managed to secure much of the northwestern and western countryside of Aleppo, thus securing the vicinity of Aleppo city, and also opening the Damascus-Aleppo highway that had been cut off by the rebels in Idlib and Aleppo since 2012.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army released a statement on Monday, saying that dozens of villages and towns had returned to government control as a result of the current military operation.

A military officer in the Lairamoun area in western Aleppo said the aim of the current military operation is to secure Aleppo from shelling and to open the road connecting areas in the northwestern countryside of Aleppo, namely the towns of Nubbul and Zahra, with Aleppo city.

"The operation aimed at securing the M5 road connecting Aleppo with the capital Damascus as well as the road linking the northwestern countryside of Aleppo with the provincial capital," the officer said on condition of anonymity.

Another officer reaffirmed that the vicinity of Aleppo is safe as well as the road between northwestern Aleppo and the city itself.

"The road has been secured and it's now safe from the provincial capital of Aleppo toward the towns of Nubbul and Zahra in northwestern Aleppo," he said.

Separately, Assad said the battle for retaking all areas in the Aleppo and Idlib countryside in northern Syria is ongoing and so is the battle to "liberate all Syrian soil, eliminate terrorism, and achieve stability".

"This liberation does not mean the end of the war, and does not mean the end of the schemes, nor the end of terrorism or the surrender of enemies," Assad said, seated behind a bare wooden desk and wearing glasses.

"But it means that we rubbed their noses in the dirt as a prelude for complete victory and ahead of their defeat, sooner or later."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the Russian military will continue to support the Syrian government forces in their fight against terrorists in the country.

By securing the western countryside of Aleppo, the International Airport of Aleppo will resume working on Wednesday for the first time since 2012, Syria's Transportation Ministry said on Monday.

In a statement, the ministry said that the first flight from Damascus to Aleppo will take off on Wednesday, and flights to Cairo and Damascus are scheduled in the coming few days.

Xinhua and Agencies contributed to this story.