Their success there and in eastern Ukraine convinced Russia's generals to use Wagner in Syria where it undertook some of the most brutal operations in support of President Bashar al Assad's forces sometimes clashing with United States-backed local militias...

Both regimes have used live rounds against protestors with Sudanese security forces aping the tactics of the Syrian regime under President Bashar al Assad with an armed raid on a hospital in Omdurman which had been treating people with gunshot wounds...

One Libyan politician called the policy 'Syria light' comparing Russia's weapon deliveries and air support for Haftar with its backing for President Bashar al Assad in Damascus...

Sisi indicated in late 2016 that he was providing support to the national army of Syria in combating terrorism a remark that prompted speculation that some Egyptian army personnel were already deployed in Syria to provide backing to the forces of President Bashar al Assad...

It was President Barack Obama who ultimately decided to suspend French-backed plans for a US air assault on President Bashar Hafez al Assad's regime in Syria...

International and regional reactions to the crisis pointed to uncharted territory: Syrian President Bashar al Assad (who is backed by Islamist Iran and Hezbollah) announced that ‘political Islam was dead' and Saudi Arabia's monarchy backed the coup...

Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s call for the BRICS to intervene against his opponents and appeals by Palestinian groups for intervention against Israel both came to nothing...

Nabil Elaraby the Egyptian Secretary General of the Arab League has helped it to wake up to the Arab Spring taking an unexpectedly robust line on Syria’s President Bashar al Assad...

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki joined several Arab heads of state in urging China to apply pressure to Bashar al Assad’s regime in Syria where a bloody conflict has been under way for over a year...