MOSCOW, October 19. /TASS/. The Syrian government must liberate Aleppo from terrorists in order to protect the civilian population, the country’s President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Swiss broadcaster SRF.

"That’s our mission, according to the constitution, according to the law, that we have to protect the people, that we have to get rid of those terrorists from Aleppo. This is where we can protect the civilians," Assad said.

"How can we protect them while they are under control of the terrorists? <...> We need to attack the terrorists, that’s self-evident," the Syrian president stressed.