Dubai United Arab Emirates (CNN)– On Saturday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, his intention to continue with him in the “joint war against cross-border terrorism and extremism,” according to the Syrian News Agency (SANA).
The agency added that Al-Assad sent a cable of condolence to Putin in which he expressed his “deepest condolences for the victims of the terrorist attack that targeted the Crocus Mall on the outskirts of the Russian capital, Moscow, on Friday.”.
The Syrian President described the attack as “cowardly” and added that “targeting innocent civilians indicates the complete inability to make the Russian people deviate from their principles and their adherence to their country’s sovereignty and independence of decision-making, and is directly linked to the cruel and painful defeats suffered by neo-Nazism and its supporters as a result of the special military operation in Donbass.” In reference to the war launched by Russia against Ukraine in 2022.
Al-Assad expressed his condemnation of the armed attack, and said: “As we condemn this brutal act and all the bloodshed committed by terrorists anywhere in the world, we affirm our determination to continue with you in our joint war against terrorism and cross-border extremism.”
It is noteworthy that ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on the Crocus complex after attackers stormed the place with rifles and incendiary devices.
This is the deadliest attack on Moscow in decades, and came less than a week after Putin won the elections by an overwhelming majority to secure another term, tightening his grip on the country he has ruled since 2016.
The Russian Investigative Committee announced that the death toll in the Crocus city attack had risen to 115 people, and the Ministry of Health in the Moscow region published a list of the names of 121 people injured in the attack.
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