Will Assad's Downfall Trigger a Russian Withdrawal from Syria?

When he launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently believed Russian forces would topple the government within weeks and restore Moscow's dominance over the country after 30 years of independence. Putin was mistaken, and the war he started rages on nearly three years later. It's hard to imagine Putin didn't mull over his miscalculation when militant-led opposition forces seized Damascus and swept Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power less than two weeks after launching an offensive. The…