Assad, the Russian-backed dictator of Syria, has led to Russia needing to evacuate its military contingent from the country. To accomplish this, Russia has sent ships to Syria to evacuate the remaining equipment along with airlifting the most valuable equipment.

Assad, the Russian-backed dictator of Syria, has led to Russia needing to evacuate its military presence from the country. To achieve this, in addition to airlifting the most valuable equipment, Russia has dispatched ships to Syria to remove the remaining assets.

Since Assad’s fall in the first week of December, Israel has destroyed a large proportion of Syria’s strategic stock of weapons so that they do not fall into the hands of Islamic State and other hostile forces. And Israel has unilaterally seized the Syrian side of Mount Hermon and the United Nations demilitarized zone adjacent to the Golan Heights.

Syria's new ruling administration has cancelled a contract with a Russian firm to manage and operate the country's Tartous port that was signed under former President Bashar al-Assad, according to three Syrian businessmen and media reports.

Russia has lost a naval base after Syria ended an investment contract with Moscow, asserting its authority over the Tartus port.

From Syria to Libya to Georgia, Putin's grip on his global empire is loosening. Thus far only Turkey and Israel benefit. Will the West rise to the occasion too?

The fact of the matter is, though, the Russo-Iranian alliance in the Middle East has been dealt a serious blow with the loss of Assad’s regime in Syria. That is now being made all the more evident by the fact that the new Turkish-backed Islamist government in Damascus,

In December, the brutal Assad regime collapsed. The Russian military, which had a significant naval, ground, and air presence in the country, had to pull out its forces as quickly as possible. The pull-out, however, will have long-term consequences on Russia’s ability to project force.

Assad's regime, Russia lost a key all in the Middle East - but it still hopes to keeps its military bases in Syria.

The Sparta II, a Russian cargo ship under U.S. sanctions, had been drifting near Tartus since Jan. 5 after leaving Baltiysk in Kaliningrad Oblast on Dec. 11.

Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman discussed developments in the Gaza Strip, Syria and the Russia-Ukraine crisis with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday.