The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that Syrians might live peacefully and as equals after a half century of authoritarian rule.

In the villages above the Syrian port city of Tartus they once hailed the sons who died fighting in Bashar al-Assad's service as martyrs.Down the hill in Tartus, a large port city on the Mediterranean that still holds a Russian naval garrison that once backed Assad,

The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that all Syrians might live cooperatively and peacefully in a new Syria

Israel said it had wiped out the vast majority of the Syrian military's assets, including huge chunks of its air-defense network.

Israeli military aircraft carried out a series of powerful airstrikes on military targets in the Syrian port city of Tartus, home to an important Russian naval base and ship repair facility, on the night of 15-16 December.

The images show new activity at the Hmeimim Air Base over the past few days as Russia's military footprint in Syria remains in limbo.

Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Syria's coastal Tartus region late Sunday, marking the most intense bombardment in the area since 2012, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russia has begun withdrawing a large amount of military equipment and troops from Syria following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to two US officials and a western official familiar with the intelligence.

Russia's military presence at two key bases in Syria fell into uncertainty after the Assad regime fell last weekend.

Syria’s new transitional government says there is no place for Russian presence in Syria a week after the country’s long-time President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The new government also says it is open to engage in contacts with all countries to pave Syria’s new future.

The target was apparently a weapons depot, with the explosion so large it caused seismic equipment to log 3 on the Richter scale

It’s uncertain how much success Russia is having while negotiating with Syria’s dominant forces to retain its naval and air bases in the country. Kremlin’s ambitions in the Middle East and Africa might take a hit.