By Anjali Shrestha On December 11, 2017, Russia completed a large-scale military operation against the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation (since 2016 it has been called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham) in the Syrian Arab Republic (SAR). In December 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the withdrawal of the Russian group of troops from Syria. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation more than 54 thousand militants were destroyed, including more than 2,800 immigrants from the Russian Federation and 1,400 from neighbouring countries, 394 tanks and more than 12 thousand weapons and equipment. The entire territory of the country has been liberated by the Syrian government troops with the support of the Russian military. Huge merit in this belongs to the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation. VKKS aviation began work in Syria on September 30, 2015. Thanks to Russia's efforts, it was possible to unite disparate and hostile armed opposition groups in the fight against terrorists. More than 1,000 settlements were liberated. During the operation in Syria, progress in the field of new Russian weapons became obvious. During the conflict, the Russian Air Force used high-precision guided munitions for the first time – but such modern weapons were used in only 20 percent of the airstrikes carried out. Today, the situation in Syria remains tense and uncertain -- the economic, financial, demographic, military and other resources of Damascus have long been completely exhausted. At the moment, the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad is based solely on external assistance. In addition, the terrorist organization ISIS has now lost its combat and economic potential most seriously but it has not yet been defeated. Now the governments of the Middle East countries are deepening ties with Russia across the entire vector of relations — military, diplomatic, economic and energy — in order to insure against the uncertainty of Washington's position. Russia is working to strengthen its role not only as a key arbiter of the Syrian conflict but also as a center of power that forms the agenda, starting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ending with world energy prices. Moscow's growing influence throughout the Middle East, moreover, is likely to have consequences far beyond the region. Moscow will seek to use its great opportunities to step up efforts to return Syrian refugees (5.6 million) or internally displaced persons (6 million) to their homeland, which is considered as the basis for a peaceful settlement in Syria. The Russian campaign in Syria was aimed at solving several tasks. In addition to achieving geopolitical goals, Russia managed to put into practice the positive results of the military reform and demonstrate these results to its potential opponents. After the introduction of troops, several months passed before the Russian operation finally helped the Syrian army turn the tide of the war. According to the results of the Syrian campaign, there is no doubt that the Russian military reform has led to a significant strengthening of the military potential of the Russian Federation.