The Assad regime fell in Syria – how will it affect the war in Ukraine – TSN Exclusive

As of December 2016, it took the Assad regime four years to gain control of Aleppo. The forces of a coalition of opposition rebel groups – “Military Operations Command” – captured Aleppo in less than four days, and then the capital Damascus. Syria is of strategic importance for Russia. Moscow has had its naval base in Tartus on the coast of the Mediterranean since Soviet times. A little higher, closer to the Turkish border, is the Khmeimim Air Base. This is its gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and Africa. Therefore, the loss of Syria is a huge slap in the face for Putin.

Russian military intervention in Syria to preserve Bashar al-Assad's regime began in 2015, a year after the occupation of Ukrainian Crimea. With this, Putin, offended by “color revolutions” and revanchism, wanted to show the West that the Arab Spring (a wave of anti-government protests in the countries of the Middle…