Russian troops accompany a convoy of Syrian civilians leaving the town of Tal Tamr in the northeastern Hasakeh province via the strategic M4 highway, on January 10, 2021. (Photo by DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images) The collapse of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, and Russia’s decision to stand-by and allow it to occur, has been held up by some in the West as indicative of Moscow’s imperial overstretch and declining regional influence. The Kremlin’s ongoing “special military operation”