Hosni Kaliya pulls a cigarette out of his pack with his mouth. When he poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire, most of his right hand was consumed by the flames and all that remains is a stump without fingers. He still has four fingers on his left hand, but they jut out like claws, burned, stiff and contorted. His fingernails are curled. He wears black wool gloves with the fingertips cut off, so that they won't dangle emptily. A knit cap protects Kaliya's head, where his hair was burned off, and his unusually small ears. But the disfigured face, the work of doctors using old and new skin, how could he hide that?

 

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The civil war in Syria was a powder keg when the Russians intervened in September. They put up an airbase and started bombing targets there. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the airstrikes were aimed at fighting Islamic terrorism, but it quickly became apparent that the majority of the bombs were aimed, not at ISIS, but at other Syrian insurgent groups fighting the regime of Russia's ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Whatever their motives, the Russians have inserted themselves into the Syrian conflict and any discussion of how it might end.

A few months ago, 60 Minutes reported from the American base in Qatar, the command center for U.S. operations in the Middle East. We wanted to see the Russian base. So we asked and they agreed. We set out on the road to Syria -- which took us on a detour we didn't expect.

To get to the Russian airbase in Latakia, Syria, you have to start here in Moscow.

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