The transfer marks the end of an era when Russia played an arguably oversized role in determining which countries could operate in Syria’s contested airspace.

Israeli military aircraft carried out a series of powerful airstrikes on military targets in the Syrian port city of Tartus, home to an important Russian naval base and ship repair facility, on the night of 15-16 December.

The images show new activity at the Hmeimim Air Base over the past few days as Russia's military footprint in Syria remains in limbo.

Russia has begun withdrawing a large amount of military equipment and troops from Syria following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to two US officials and a western official familiar with the intelligence.

Two African states are frustrating Moscow's efforts to establish a stronger military presence in the continent following the fall of Assad.

Israel said it had wiped out the vast majority of the Syrian military's assets, including huge chunks of its air-defense network.

Syria’s new transitional government says there is no place for Russian presence in Syria a week after the country’s long-time President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The new government also says it is open to engage in contacts with all countries to pave Syria’s new future.

The target was apparently a weapons depot, with the explosion so large it caused seismic equipment to log 3 on the Richter scale

The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that Syrians might live peacefully and as equals after a half century of authoritarian rule

its military presence in Syria pushed the United States, Israel and Turkey, and the region at large, to engage diplomatically with Moscow. Its naval presence at Tartus, including three large ...

Russia’s bases in western Syria — a major naval base and an air ... toward Russia’s Khmeimim air base and naval base at Tartus. Images from the satellite company Maxar earlier this week ...