Russia has begun withdrawing a large amount of military equipment and troops from Syria following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to two US officials and a western official familiar with the intelligence.

The images show new activity at the Hmeimim Air Base over the past few days as Russia's military footprint in Syria remains in limbo.

Russia's military presence at two key bases in Syria fell into uncertainty after the Assad regime fell last weekend.

Israel said it had wiped out the vast majority of the Syrian military's assets, including huge chunks of its air-defense network.

On the night of December 16, the Israeli Air Force carried out powerful strikes on military targets located in the port city of Tartus, Syria. The city hosts a naval base used by Russian forces, as well as a military ship repair yard,

Israeli military aircraft carried out a series of powerful airstrikes on military targets in the Syrian port city of Tartus, home to an important Russian naval base and ship repair facility, on the night of 15-16 December.

Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Syria's coastal Tartus region late Sunday, marking the most intense bombardment in the area since 2012, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria’s new transitional government says there is no place for Russian presence in Syria a week after the country’s long-time President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. The new government also says it is open to engage in contacts with all countries to pave Syria’s new future.

Israeli strikes targeted military sites in Syria's coastal Tartus region overnight, a war monitor said Monday, calling them "the heaviest strikes" there in years."Israeli warplanes launched strikes" targeting a series of sites including air defence units and "surface-to-surface missile depots",

The target was apparently a weapons depot, with the explosion so large it caused seismic equipment to log 3 on the Richter scale

The locals had no idea what it was the Israelis dropped on the Syrian military base at Bimalkah. They just knew it produced a series of almighty and rather terrifying explosions.