Syrian army announces victory in Aleppo, as last rebels evacuate the city

APD

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The Syrian army declared on Thursday the liberation of eastern Aleppo city in northern Syria, as the last batch of rebels left the city, making Aleppo city completely under the government control.

The Syrian army declared the restoration of security and stability to all of Aleppo city, following the evacuation of the last rebel convoy from the eastern part of the city on Thursday evening.

"This victory constitutes a strategic turn in the war on terror, and deals a strong blow to the terrorist project and its backers," said the army in a statement.

"The victory constitutes the launching of a new stage in battling terrorism on all Syrian territories," the statement added.

The statement stressed that the victory in Aleppo will motivate the Syrian army to carry out its battles on the terrorists across Syria.

The evacuation of rebels and their families started last Thursday, as part of a Russian Turkish-deal to end the rebel presence in eastern Aleppo following a large-scale offensive. Aleppo has been under the rebel control since 2012.

"The Next ALeppo"

The arrival of thousands of refugees from Aleppo in Idlib aroused fears that the rebel-held city in northwestern Syria could be next. Assad has said the war is far from over and his armed forces would march on other rebel areas.

"Many of them have gone to Idlib, which could be in theory the next Aleppo," U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said in Geneva.

He said a cessation of hostilities across Syria was vital if another battle like the bloody struggle for Aleppo was to be avoided.

In comments after meeting a senior Iranian delegation, Assad said his battlefield successes were a "basic step on the road to ending terrorism in the whole of Syria and creating the right circumstances for a solution to end the war".

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian air strikes in Syria had killed 35,000 rebel fighters and halted a chain of revolutions in the Middle East.

(APD)