BEIRUT, August 1 (Itar-Tass) - Syrian President Bashar Assad “believes in the ability of Syrian officers and soldiers to fulfil their mission to save the country from terror.” Assad noted with excitement “the valour and heroism of courageous sons of the fatherland,” who “confront the most brutal and barbaric aggression in the modern history”. The Syrian President has delivered an address to the republican Armed Forces on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of national Syrian army foundation that was published in the Thursday issue of the magazine Jeish ash-Shaab.
“If we were not sure of the victory of our troops in Syria, should have we endured more than two years of war... People and the army are standing shoulder to shoulder today, and therefore any pressure and plots are just making them more determined to protect their national interests,” the president said.
“My trust to you (soldiers, sergeants and officers) is great and the faith in your capability to fulfil the national mission shouldered on you is firm,” Assad stated. In his words, the Syrian troops “are adding today a glorious page to the history of the armed forces and set an example of service to the homeland,” he said.
Assad’s address was made, when the Syrian army succeeded to crash down the resistance of the rebels in the city of Homs, 165 kilometres of Damascus. In northern Syria the troops launched a counteroffensive operation and encircled the formations of militants in Han-el-Asal, west of Aleppo. About 150 captured Syrian servicemen and civilians from the supporters of Assad’s rule were executed by the militants in this locality at the beginning of this week.