Russia announces surprise withdrawal from Syria

Russian forces are preparing to leave Syria five and a half months after they began to bomb targets in what they called an anti-terror operation, but what Western governments condemned as a mission to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

Western officials cautiously welcomed the move by the Kremlin, which came after a telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Assad on Monday (14 March).

"The leaders noted that the actions of the Russian air force had allowed t...