“Syrians voted no to terrorism and yes to democracy in the presidential election in that country,” Amir Abdollahian said late Thursday.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister expressed the hope that under President Assad’s leadership, the Syrian people “will continue to resist foreign-backed terrorists and safeguard the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of the prominent country of the axis of resistance.”

Amir Abdollahian also called on the Syrian opposition groups to distance themselves from Takfiri and terrorist groups and take part in the country’s national reconciliation and political process.

On Wednesday, The Syrian People’s Assembly speaker Mohammad Jihad al-Laham announced that the president Assad won 88.7 percent of the vote.

The country’s Supreme Constitutional Court also announced that 73.42% of the 15.8 million eligible voters had taken part in the election.

Following the announcement, crowds took to the streets throughout the country to celebrate the victory of the incumbent president.

Also on Wednesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in a statement, praised the Syrian nation’s massive participation in the presidential election, and called on the world states and international bodies to respect the results of the Tuesday election.

The statement praised the high turnout in the polls as a “big achievement”, saying the Syrian government made good preparations for holding the June 3 election despite difficulties caused by certain foreign sides.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy that has reportedly killed over 160,000 people since it erupted in March 2011.

The pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 320 prisoners were released from Northern Aleppo Central prison on Wednesday as President Assad’s victory in presidential elections was announced, the Express Tribune reported.

The Britain-based group said 480 other prisoners, including 80 women, would be freed from Adra prison in Damascus province.

Several dozen were freed Friday from Adra, while the rest of the 480 slated to walk free were transferred to a municipal building pending their release, the monitoring group said.

The Observatory said that all the Adra prisoners to be released had been held on charges of “terrorism”.

On Wednesday, Syrian officials announced that President al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide, capturing another seven-year term.

Syria’s parliament speaker Jihad Laham announced the final results from Tuesday’s election, saying Assad garnered 10,319,723 votes, representing almost 89 percent of the total votes.