As fighting rages, can Russia forge a peace in Syria?

Nearly two and a half years after the Russian military began an intensive bombing campaign in Syria in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia is struggling to engineer a political solution in the war-ravaged country, analysts say.The Kremlin has presented its landmark Syria operation as a success, shrugging off western criticism over the killing of civilians while claiming to have withdrawn a significant part of its forces."During the battle against the Islamic State group (IS), it