<p class="title">Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday took part in Eid al-Adha prayers on the second day of his first visit to ex-rebel-stronghold Aleppo in over a decade, state media reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Assad began the highly symbolic visit on Friday to Syria's second city, formerly held by rebels and jihadists before it was recaptured in 2016 with crucial Russian backing, marking a major turning point in the country's 11-year war.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday performed Eid al-Adha prayer at Sahabiy Abdallah bin Abbas mosque in Aleppo city," state news agency SANA reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The news agency also released a message in which Assad wished the people of Syria and soldiers in the military a happy Eid.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Much of Aleppo was disfigured by the conflict, including its historic Old City, where Assad and his family were pictured walking near the Grand Umayyad mosque on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SANA on Saturday published images of Assad surrounded by a crowd of clerics and worshippers clamouring to greet him.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Before the war, the northern city -- considered to be one of the world's longest continuously inhabited -- boasted markets, mosques and public baths, but a brutal siege on rebels left it disfigured.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fighting damaged as much as 60 per cent of Aleppo's Old City, according to estimates by the UN's cultural agency, UNESCO.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aleppo province saw fierce battles between government forces, rebels and Islamic State group jihadists from 2012 until Russian-backed government forces gradually ousted them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On Friday, Assad visited a major power plant in the province's eastern countryside to supervise its partial relaunch after war damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was also present for the relaunching of a water pumping station, statements from the Syrian presidency said on Telegram.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Electricity networks and other infrastructure across the country were ravaged by the war, which is estimated to have killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Syrian government does not have authority over all of Aleppo province, with areas on the Turkish border still controlled by Ankara-backed groups and the rival Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.</p>
<p class="title">Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday took part in Eid al-Adha prayers on the second day of his first visit to ex-rebel-stronghold Aleppo in over a decade, state media reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Assad began the highly symbolic visit on Friday to Syria's second city, formerly held by rebels and jihadists before it was recaptured in 2016 with crucial Russian backing, marking a major turning point in the country's 11-year war.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday performed Eid al-Adha prayer at Sahabiy Abdallah bin Abbas mosque in Aleppo city," state news agency SANA reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The news agency also released a message in which Assad wished the people of Syria and soldiers in the military a happy Eid.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Much of Aleppo was disfigured by the conflict, including its historic Old City, where Assad and his family were pictured walking near the Grand Umayyad mosque on Friday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SANA on Saturday published images of Assad surrounded by a crowd of clerics and worshippers clamouring to greet him.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Before the war, the northern city -- considered to be one of the world's longest continuously inhabited -- boasted markets, mosques and public baths, but a brutal siege on rebels left it disfigured.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fighting damaged as much as 60 per cent of Aleppo's Old City, according to estimates by the UN's cultural agency, UNESCO.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Aleppo province saw fierce battles between government forces, rebels and Islamic State group jihadists from 2012 until Russian-backed government forces gradually ousted them.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On Friday, Assad visited a major power plant in the province's eastern countryside to supervise its partial relaunch after war damage.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was also present for the relaunching of a water pumping station, statements from the Syrian presidency said on Telegram.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Electricity networks and other infrastructure across the country were ravaged by the war, which is estimated to have killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Syrian government does not have authority over all of Aleppo province, with areas on the Turkish border still controlled by Ankara-backed groups and the rival Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.</p>