RE: The Rebel Alliance30 Nov 2024 21:50
The story goes back at least to Cold War times, when the Soviet Union gained influence in Syria in the 1970s, giving aid and arms.
But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, its influence in Syria reduced.
In 2000, Vladimir Putin became president of Russia and Bashar al-Assad became president of Syria.
They did not have a close relationship, but in the mid-2000s, Putin began to expand the Russian military.
"Putin began to think about developing Russia as a great power again," says Richard Reeve, director of the Sustainable Security Programme at the Oxford Research Group, a security think-tank.
Russian ties with Syria began to strengthen because of their previous Cold War relationship.