Looters in the palace: Rebels toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime over the weekend. The former dictator has received asylum in Moscow.
In the past, Russia "had intervened in Syria's 13-year civil war in an effort to keep [Assad] in power," per the BBC. This time, neither Russia nor Iran really came to Assad's aid, aside from that offer of refuge. Another Assad ally, the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, was also distracted by its own recent conflicts.
