DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Assad also thanked the Russian nation and country’s President Vladimir Putin for the contribution to the fight against terrorism in Syria.
Assad’s welcoming address was read by Chief of the Syrian Army General Staff Lt. Gen. Ali Abdullah Ayyoub at the military parade in Hmeimim, the Russian airbase in Syria, in celebration of the 72nd anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War.
"The participants of the [Second World] War gave up their lives for the sake of freedom and justice and now their descendants are worthily following the path of their grandfathers, fighting terrorists," Assad said in his address.
Both Russian and Syrian servicemen, as well as military equipment, have taken part in the military parade in Syria on Tuesday.
