Terrorists were destroying the system of education in the regions they seized, and also confiscated the Syrians’ satellite receivers and dishes to restrict their access to any information. The satellite receivers and dishes were then destroyed and burned in the schoolyard. There was no time to remove the debris from the yard, because the village residents convinced the local government to reopen the school as soon as possible.

Hueij said that four out of seven schools on the eastern bank of the Euphrates have already reopened thanks to the assistance from the Russian military.

"This region has been liberated from terrorists with Russia’s active support. You can see that our children can resume their studies now. The Russian military have helped reopen this and other schools. It is not the first time when they have delivered humanitarian aid to us. I hope they will continue to help us in the future," the school principal stressed.

Six hundred children attend the school in Hatla, but the number keeps growing because refugees are gradually returning to the province, Hueij said.

Poplavsky, for his part, said that the Russian military was not only helping to restore schools and health care facilities on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, but also continued to clear local fields of mines.