"Aleppo has been liberated from the jihadists' gangs thanks to Russia. They were definitely the terrorist gangs, not the opposition groups. They have killed civilians in Aleppo, they have killed many representatives of the Kurdish population… The liberation of Aleppo is a big victory of the Syrian army. Russia, which possesses considerable military and diplomatic power, has played a significant role in this victory," Rezzan Hido said.
Iran and Shia groups have also contributed to the liberation of the embattled city, he added.
Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, following the protests that had turned violent, as part of the so-called Arab Spring. Over the recent months, Aleppo became a major battleground in Syria.
On December 16, the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation said that the Syrian army operation to liberate the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo was over, and that the Syrian government troops were eliminating separate hotbeds of militant resistance.
