Assad's wife Asma al-Assad has expressed her dissatisfaction with her life in Moscow following her husband's ouster from power by rebels.

The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

HMEIMIM AIRBASE, SYRIA — The Sukhoi fighter aircraft punched through the clouds, its growl echoing over Russia’s Hmeimim Airbase on Syria’s coast. Abu Zaid, a bearded militant with the Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al Sham, cocked his ear toward the roar.

During Vladimir Putin’s year-end press conference on Thursday, NBC journalist Keir Simmons asked him about Russia’s role in Syria. Putin dismissed any suggestion of Russian failure, asserting that Moscow had achieved its objectives there and that the groups opposing Bashar al-Assad’s regime had “undergone internal changes.

The Syrian regime’s collapse came more quickly than the rebels had dreamed — the circumstances were both serendipitous and part of a larger global realignment.

Syria's former President Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow with his family after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies on Sunday, and a deal has been done to ensure the safety of Russian military bases.

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied on Thursday that Russia's nine-year intervention in Syria had been a failure, but expressed concern about Israel's military operations there since the toppling of his ally Bashar al-Assad.

In his first comments on Assad’s downfall, Putin said that he hadn’t yet met the former Syrian ruler, whom he has given asylum in Moscow, but plans to.

Georgina Deiratani, a Syrian Christian who has lived in Moscow for over two decades, says she is still in shock at the ouster of president Bashar al-Assad and his escape to Russia."We lived well together,

Assad, has filed for divorce and requested permission to leave Moscow for medical treatment. The former First Lady, diagnosed with leukemia, expresses dissatisfaction with her life in exile. She seeks to return to London,

Cyclist Bassel Soufi visits the summer resort of ousted Bashar al-Assad as he tours a part of his daily training in Burj Islam near Latakia, Syria, December 13, 2024. (credit: REU