Bashar-al Assad fled the country on December 8 to take refuge in the Russian capital, where he owns several luxury apartments. According to satellite images analyzed by the BBC, the Russian army appears to have accelerated its withdrawal from the Syrian port of Tartous,

Syria’s ruler Ahmad Al Shara has demanded that Russia hand over former president Bashar Al Assad and an estimated $2 billion dollars in liquid assets held by the Assad family in Russian banks, during a meeting in Damascus,

The new Syrian government also said that the armed groups which ousted the regime in December have been dissolved.

Aspiring spy boss Tulsi Gabbard defended most of her controversial foreign policy takes during a lively Senate hearing Thursday, including her meeting with former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and her prior doubts about the legitimacy of US intelligence on his use of chemical weapons against his own people.

Critics blasted the meeting as legitimizing Assad four years after he used lethal chemical weapons on Syrian civilians. "It was common knowledge that Assad was gassing the civilian population,