BEIRUT, March 13. /TASS/. Russia has succeeded in fighting terrorists together with the Syrian Army, the recapture of Aleppo and Palmyra is the concrete evidence of this success, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with a group of European reporters.
"Let’s talk about the reality, about the facts: since the Russians started their raids against ISIS in cooperation with the Syrian Army - of course, after we asked them to come and support us in our fight against the terrorists - ISIS has been shrinking," the SANA new agency quoted him as saying.
Assad added that "before sending their troops to Syria - I’m talking about the beginning of the war six years ago - since that time, every political step and later military step that has been taken regarding the Syrian issue was in consultation with the Syrian government." The Syrian leader pointed out that "this is their policy, and this is their behavior." "Their policy and their relation with Syria are based on two things: first of all, the sovereignty of Syria, which is part of the Charter of the United Nations. The second one is based on morals, that’s why there’s no colonization, there’s a relation that goes back to more than six decades between Syria and Russia, and it has always been like that in different circumstances," Bashar al-Assad concluded.