Russia plays up role as peacemaker, donor in Syria At a mobile medical clinic in central Syria's Homs province, a Russian doctor takes an elderly woman's blood pressure. Nearby, his colleague examines a dazed teenager on a gurney. The pop-up facility outside of rebel-held Dar al-Kabira in central Syria is one of several medical units deployed by Moscow, which has remained a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the six-year conflict.