The video begins with the announcement, “A statement by the chief of staff of the Syrian Arab army.” A serious-looking man in camouflage reads a grandiloquent communique celebrating the Syrian state's victory over “terrorists and takfiris” in eastern Aleppo.
“We call on the sons of the beloved Syrian people to return to the bosom of the nation and the sovereignty of the Syrian state,” he says, before issuing a warning. “We will crush under the feet of the Syrian Arab army’s heroes anyone who tries to undermine the security and stability [of the state].”