Syria's Assad says decision to recapture Aleppo is taken

 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Wednesday that the decision to recapture all of Aleppo city in northern Syria from the armed rebels has been taken.

Speaking to the pro-government al-Watan newspaper, Assad said "the decision to liberate all of Syria has been taken, including Aleppo."

Buoyed by the recent progress his troops have made against the armed rebels, the president said that after the armed militants failed in the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs, their last hope was Aleppo.

In a jab on Western countries and their support for the rebels, Assad said after the liberation of Aleppo, neither the West, nor the rebels would have real cards to bet on.

"Aleppo will completely change the course of the battles in Syria, and would mean the failure of the international, regional and foreign schemes," he said.

Regarding a truce in Aleppo as proposed by the Western powers in the UN Security Council, the president said the "United States was begging for establishing a truce because their agents of terrorists have become in a difficult situation."

This comes as the Syrian army has become in control of over 80 percent of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of Aleppo.

The army unleashed its offensive two weeks ago against the rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, as part of the major offensive launched recently to liberate the eastern part of the city from any rebel presence.

Over 30,000 civilians have fled eastern Aleppo over the past two weeks toward government-controlled areas in the western part of the city. The rebels captured eastern Aleppo in 2012.

Humanitarian organizations sounded the alarm about the situation of 250,000 people living in eastern Aleppo, with the government promising to fix the situation of those relocated in government-controlled areas.

source: Xinhua