Since the arrival of the Russian military five years ago, the Syrian government was able to retake most of the country from terrorists, while the Khmeimim Air Base has grown from a few tents into a well-protected town.
The Russian military was deployed in Syria in September 2015 after Damascus approached Moscow for assistance in the quickly deteriorating conflict. At that time, some 70 percent of Syria had fallen to anti-government forces, including radicals from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and various Al-Qaeda-linked groups.
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