Operation Serval Operation Serval Operation Serval () was a French military operation in Mali. The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali, who had begun a push into the center of Mali. Operation Serval followed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2085 of December 20, 2012 and an official request by the Malian interim government for French military assistance. The operation ended on July 15, 2014, and was replaced by Operation Barkhane, launched on August 1, 2014 to fight Islamist fighters in the Sahel. Three of the five Islamic leaders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, Abdel Krim
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War over 9,000 sorties over the course of five and a half months, while helping the Syrian Army capture 400 towns and acquire 10,000 square kilometers of territory. In January 2016, a few months after Russia's involvement in Syria, diplomat Ranjit Gupta wrote, in an article published by , that the Russian reinforcement was "godsend for Assad, greatly boosting the regime's sagging morale and that of its armed forces." Gupta continued: In February 2016, Professor Fawaz A. Gerges of the London School of Economics opined the Russian military intervention had turned out to be a game-changer in the Syrian Civil War: