here in syria in the peopmedium near future. what are you learning on the ground there? how strong is the bashar al assad government, the regime in the ongoing civil war? reporter: it s really gaining strength. it is really interesting to see. i ve been here 20 times many syria and it is consistent over the past couple years that the assad government is gaining strength. you can see how the russians are more and more important to that. i mentioned the enclave outside damascus. that had 400,000 people in it. it is almost empty because the civilians had to leave. it is the russians calling the shots there. if you look at the political process, moscow has made it clear they want to keep bashar al assad in power and keep the military here. so they view this as a long term
many are speaking to the russians. they don t know what exactly their future will bring. it also puts the russians in the position where now moscow is calling the shots here in syria. you look at the future of this country. right now, the russians are the strongest foreign power involved here in syria. and i can tell from you being on the ground in damascus, right now, the opposition is losing one strong hold after another. there s one really big one outside damascus where opposition fighters are being bused out. the negotiations are being led by moscow as well. you have a conference that will take place tomorrow. it will take place in turkey. the countries they re deciding the future of syria, it will be russia, turkey and iran. the u.s. does not have a place at that table. you have the president speaking out about holding, withholding some funding to syria afterwards. that does not bode well for any sort of american aspirations