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.

In his first comments from exile in Moscow, the deposed dictator pushes back against criticism that he abandoned supporters.

Replacing the dominant roles of Russia and Iran exerting influence over Syria, following the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey and Israel are best positioned to divide up their respective roles on the territory of the shared neighbor.