HMEYMIM (Sputnik) – Five Syrian children have returned home after being successfully treated in Russia’s St. Petersburg, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation informs.
"Since this mission is being carried out ahead of New Year, we considered it possible to set a table and give children New Year’s presents," a representative of the reconciliation center informed on Thursday, as the children were greeted in the Syrian city of Latakia.
The Syrian children, aged 6-14, were taken to St. Petersburg in November, from areas in Syria that had long been under the control of terrorists.
Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including the Islamic State (ISIL, also known as Daesh), which is banned in a range of countries, including Russia.
On December 16, the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation said that the Syrian army operation to liberate eastern neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Aleppo was over, and that Syrian government troops were eliminating separate hotbeds of militant resistance.
