Aleppo residents celebrate full liberation from militants

The residents of Aleppo have taken to the Syrian city’s streets to celebrate the imminent official announcement of the city’s full liberation from militants.   

According to Syrian army officials on Monday, 99 percent of the formerly occupied regions of the city have been recovered by government forces, adding that the army is in the “last moments before declaring victory.”   

“The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They (militants) don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” said Lieutenant General Zaid al-Saleh, the director of the government’s Aleppo security committee.

Press TV’s correspondent in the city says that there are reports of the complete liberation of Aleppo.

Earlier, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the battle to liberate the city had reached its end and that government forces were making their final advances into the militant-held parts of the city. “The battle of Aleppo has reached its end. It is just a matter of a small period of time, no more, no less…,” said the group’s director, Rami Abdulrahman.

He noted that the militants have now withdrawn from the last six neighborhoods they were using as hideouts in the city.

Less than a month ago, the Syrian army started a wholesale push to drive the militants out of their stronghold in the city’s eastern side, making great strides in the process.

Aleppo’s complete liberation from the foreign-backed militants would mark a significant victory for Syria in its nearly six-year-long campaign against foreign-backed militants. The liberation of Aleppo would deny the militants their main supply routes across the Turkish border while it would hugely undermine the morale of the militant groups.

Assad receives letter from Pope

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has received a letter from Pope Francis in which the pontiff voiced his sympathies for the people of Syria over the difficulties they had endured during the country’s years of conflict.

The Vatican’s top diplomat in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari, delivered the letter personally to Assad on Monday.

In his letter, the Pope condemned all manners of extremism and terrorism across the globe and especially in Syria. He also called for uniting all efforts to end the conflict in the country and to restore peace.

Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and UN have put the death toll from the Syria conflict at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively. This is while the UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.