The US had ditched a plan to arm Syrian rebel factions over a year ago, but the start of Russian airstrikes against ISIS and other factions has the US going back to that strategy, and throwing large amounts of anti-tank missiles at the various rebel factions in the nation’s west.
The initial shift was because of America’s shift in focus from early Civil War goals of regime change to fighting against ISIS. The groups getting the tow missiles aren’t fighting ISIS, by and large, they’re fighting the government, and by extension the Russians.
The shipments seem aimed at turning the Syrian Civil War into a proxy war, and the fact that the US is overtly backing Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions that are fighting alongside al-Qaeda in Idlib and Hama, because that’s the focus of one of the first Russian-backed offensive.
So the US strategy in Syria is shifting once again, initially focused on regime change, then focused on destroying ISIS, and now, having given up more or less on both of those, they just want to see Russia fail, and the administration seems comfortable with the possibility that US-made weapons will be destroying Russian tanks and helicopters.
This proxy war is also bringing the US closer to a de facto alliance with al-Qaeda, as the efforts to undermine Russia run squarely through al-Qaeda-held Idlib, and “stopping” Russia at this point means further consolidating al-Qaeda control over northwest Syria.
Starting to look a lot like Afghanistan circa the early 80s.
The terrorists are US.
USG is the biggest hypocrite on the planet. On one hand, it preaches to the
world the importance of combating global terrorism, while on the other, it
wastes billions of its taxpayers' dollars arming and training terrorist scum,
Nazi thugs, and anyone else it can use to spread its hegemony.
Russia is ISIS's air force.
Must admit I'd abandon Syria, and Iraq, and Afghanistan. However the US has obviously decided against this. Indeed I see weepy stories about the necessity for 'humanitarian' intervention in Yemen.
Excellent strategy. Putin has to learn that international relations cannot be based on bullying. He's using the same bullying tactics in Syria as in Ukraine. Bogging him down in an Afghanistan-style war is an ideal way of taking him out.
As neither Empire USA nor Russia intent to back down, this battle could become nuclear at the slightest provocation.
Why the Russian intervention in Syria may proved to be a well-set Western trap
http://bit.ly/1OyUdLv