For decades, Russia has been trying to rebuild its influence in the Middle East. But after the rapid collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, the Kremlin is scrambling to salvage whatever it can. President Vladimir V.

When his Russian bosses and the mercenaries protecting them finally left, Homam Kasouha walked into the plant’s head office and did something he had yearned to do for years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia was winning in Ukraine and wasn't "weakened" by the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key ally. Russia was negotiating with all major groups in Syria to retain its key naval and air bases in the country,

The Russian president, in a marathon annual news conference, said that he had not yet met with Bashar al-Assad, the ousted Syrian leader who fled to Moscow, but that he planned to.