By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe Upfront SYRIA’S WAR HAS BEEN ONE OF the most destructive conflicts of the twenty-first century. By 2013, the Assad regime was already regaining ground in Latakia against rebels, but it was not until September 2015 that Russia formally launched its air campaign in Syria. As BBC News reported, Moscow’s intervention marked a turning point, enabling Assad’s forces to recapture rebel-held areas with Russian air power and military support. The Syrian army, supported by Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militias, pushed northwards towards the Turkish border, raising tensions with Ankara. As Reuters reported, the Russian Foreign Ministry in February 2016 insisted it had “not received convincing evidence of civilian deaths” from its strikes. Humanitarian organisations, monitoring groups, and journalists, however, documented numerous incidents involving civilian casualties. Al Jazeera journalist Ibrahim al-Omar was killed in July 2016 while reporting in Idlib Provinc...