The president is in serious trouble again. But this time, Moscow is bogged down in Ukraine, while Iran is grappling with a relentless Israeli campaign.
In 2015, Russia waged its largest military campaign outside its borders since the Cold War, launching a sweeping air war to rescue Bashar Assad’s crumbling regime in Syria.
Back then, Syrian rebels were closing in on the regime’s strongholds, even as Assad leaned heavily on Iran and Hezbollah for support in the years prior. Moscow’s intervention turned the tide, culminating in the recapture of the largest Syrian city of Aleppo and a fragile stability that has largely held since.
