The rapid downfall of Syrian leader Bashar Assad has touched off a new round of delicate geopolitical maneuvering between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had not been defeated in Syria and that Moscow had made proposals to the new rulers in Damascus over Russia's military bases there. Putin said he had not yet met with Bashar al Assad but planned to meet him and said he would ask about the fate of missing U.

As the world watches Syria grapple with the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad's brutal regime and the formation of a new government, one neighbor has emerged as having great influence over the new Syria.