Russia showed its playbook in Syria. Here's what it may mean for civilians in Ukraine
The lessons of Moscow's involvement in Syria's civil war stand as a specter of the heavy-handed playbook experts fear could be used on an even larger and more deadly scale in Ukraine.
Within hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last week, a new mural could be seen on the side of a bombed-out home in the Syrian city of Binnish. It showed a map of Ukraine, painted in the yellow and blue of the nation's flag, under attack by a large brown Russian bear. Piles of rubble littered the ground around the building, remnants of the Russian air campaign in Syria's civil war.
Aziz al-Asmar, one of the artists behind the painting, described it as a message of solidarity with the people of Ukraine. "The Syrian regime and its Russian allies turned our houses into ruins for the past 11 years, causing many people to be displaced from their homes and villages". "What is happening
