![Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran, left, and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, pose for a photo before a meeting in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 5, 2017 (AP photo by Ivan Sekretarev).](https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/l_iran-russia-lavrov-zarif-05312018-1.jpg?w=519&h=259&crop=1)
Now that the tide in the Syrian civil war appears to have definitely turned in favor of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, one of the key factors that will shape Syria’s future is the precise nature and durability of the relationship between the two countries that saved Assad from collapse: Iran and Russia. Tehran and Moscow worked together to bolster Assad, but the character of their ad hoc alliance has always remained a bit of a mystery. They each, for their own purposes, wanted the regime in Damascus to survive. Beyond that, it has never been clear just how committed Russian […]