There can be no doubt that the end of Assad’s rule in Syria has weakened Russia’s position in the Middle East and dented Moscow’s international standing, such as it is.
After an early rapprochement with the West, including a 2002 visit to the UK, Bashir al-Assad had become almost as close an ally for Moscow as his father, Hafez, had been in Soviet times. In 2015, Russia supplied air power that helped turn the tide of the Syrian civil war – and it was Moscow that last week provided refuge for him and his family as rebel forces closed in on the capital.
