I think the US are a bit deluded about how much of a presence any 'moderate' rebels still have in Syria. The reality is any such forces became insignificant a long time ago and even those areas not controlled by IS tend to be dominated by various other Islamist groups like al-Nusra. Patrick Cockburn wrote a good article on it today:
Quote:
One target appears to have been the town of Talbiseh on the main highway north of Homs city in Homs governorate. This was Free Syrian Army controlled about two years ago, but since then has been ruled by Jabhat al-Nusra and associated extreme Islamist groups. The “moderate” Syrian armed opposition has been a negligible force for more than a year as its advocate, Robert Ford, a former US ambassador in Damascus, admitted earlier this year, saying Isis, Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham had become dominant in rebel areas.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a6674271.html
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Ultimately the reason the window is now there for Russia to influence events in Syria is because the Western response to the crisis has been such a shambles. Russia has not intervened in the Middle East since WWII but now they are finding themselves at the head of the response to IS.