Syria: Aleppo capture would be a ‘springboard’ to ‘liberate’ other areas – Assad

Daria Aslamova, Journalist (English): "But no industry now, and I was there, everything is crashed."
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): "Exactly. Most of the factories in Aleppo, they don't work; they were stolen, they were taken to Turkey."
Daria Aslamova, Journalist (English): "But if you will take Aleppo, what will it change in the war?"
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): "Because it is the second-"
Daria Aslamova, Journalist (English): "- Second city, but you can cut al-Nusra from-"
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): "First of all, it has political gain, on the strategic level, political gain and national gain. Then, from the strategic point of view, military point of view, no, you don't cut; it's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another area, to liberate another area from the terrorists."
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): No, actually, I look positively to this relation."
Daria Aslamova, Journalist (English): "You look positively?"
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): "Yeah, positively. Why?"
Daria Aslamova, Journalist (English): "Why?"
Bashar Al Assad, President of the Syrian Arab Republic (English): "We are talking about two parties, we're taking into consideration that these two parties, again, they don't see eye-to-eye, they are in different positions; Russia bases its policy on the international law, respecting the sovereignty of other states, and understanding the repercussions of the terrorism prevailing anywhere in the world, while the other party, the Turkish party, bases his policy on the ideology of Muslim Brotherhood; they don't respect the sovereignty of Syria, and they supported the terrorists. So, you can see there's polarization, each one is in the exactly or completely the opposite side. So, through this rapprochement, let's say, between Russia and Turkey, the only hope that we have as Syria is that Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy. This is our hope, and I'm sure that this is the first goal of the Russian diplomacy toward Turkey these days; in order to decrease the damage of the messing-up with the Syrian territory by the Turkish government. I hope they can convince them that they have to stop supporting terrorists, stop allowing the flow of terrorists and money for those terrorists through their borders."
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad spoke on the significance of the potential recapturing of Aleppo, during an interview with Russian journalist Daria Aslamova in Damascus on Friday.
Its recapture would, for Assad, have gains on the strategic, political and national levels, adding “it's going to be the springboard, as a big city, to move to another area, to liberate another area from the terrorists. This is the importance of Aleppo now.”
During the interview Assad also expressed optimism about the recent warming of relations between Turkey and Russia, stating he hopes “Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy,” before adding “I hope they can convince them that they have to stop supporting terrorists, stop allowing the flow of terrorists and money for those terrorists through their borders."
The civil war in Syria began in 2011 and has claimed the lives of over 250,000 civilians and more than 11 million others have been displaced. The Russians are supporting the government of Bashar Assad whilst the USA, the United Kingdom and France are lending support to the rebel groups in Syria.
Video Courtesy of Komsomolskaya Pravda