Leonid Bershidsky:

Russia, a country not known for strict constitutionalism, has offered Syria’s warring sides a draft constitution that will probably get rejected. But the document sheds light on Russia’s goals in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.

Syrians pay tribute to childhood artist and Russian ‘soldier’ on Ukrainian TV sparks online storm

The death of a Syrian cartoonist famous for his school text book drawings has brought Syrians together, albeit online, for a rare moment of unity amid the ongoing war within the country. Syrians might now be pointing their rifles at one another, but many of them share childhood memories of a different Syria in which characters illustrated by Mumtaz Bahra had a special place.