Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad and a number of presidents of Arab and friendly foreign countries exchanged on Sunday cables of congratulation on the occasion of the New Year. The exchanged congratulatory cables included wishes for continued success, more goodness, progress, and strengthening relations between Syria and other countries. President al-Assad received the congratulation cables from the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un, the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Alan Gagloev, the Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhania and the President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio. His Excellency also received a congratulation cables from Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev. Source: Syrian Arab News Agency