Bashar al-Assad’s first visit to Aleppo since 2011

DrAleppo, Syria’s second largest city and economic capital, has since 2012 been the scene of bloody clashes between the regime’s army on one side and rebel groups and the Islamic State (ISIS) on the other.

Government forces were able to retake the city in 2016, with the support of Russian allied forces. The Syrian presidency said in a message broadcast on Telegram that Assad and his family “visited the historic Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo … and toured the old city markets that opened on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.”

Earlier in the day, the Syrian president visited the Aleppo power plant and witnessed the reopening of the water pumping station, two infrastructures destroyed during the fighting. Al-Assad said, in the message of the Presidency of the Republic, that “Aleppo governorate has suffered more than other governorates,” adding that “a major city like Aleppo has not been affected, in terms of water, electricity, services, missiles, destruction and terrorism.”

This is Assad’s first trip to Aleppo since the outbreak of the 2011 revolution that left nearly 500,000 dead and millions displaced.