Russia announces major operation in Syria

@CrazyJoe

Didn't see Raqqa on the targeting list. Wonder why?

To understand what and why Russians do, look at the map. They go from the West, clearing coastal areas from An-Nusra, Al-Zinki and other throatcutting cousins of IS. When Syrian Army with Russian help secures the coast, then they'll go East, inland, to Raqqa. First things first. They concentrate on one target at a time, very sound strategy.

only then will we decide to to anything about ISIS

Not correct. Russian aircraft did a nice job cutting oil truck supply lines run by IS. That had a serious effect on Daesh revenue, degrading their buying power and reducing their arsenals.

The bloody truth is that any Syrian resistance fighter is going to become collateral damage to Mr. Putin's new plan

The bloody truth is that all Iraqis, Afghanis for more then a decade were, and now many Syrians are collateral damage to the disastrous US policy in the region. The US uses propaganda noise just out of jealosy that somebody fights better. Fear of competition and not very nice try to deflect attention from its mountains of dead bodies by noisy fakes about "Russian crimes".

@smithinjapan

Had Hillary won, they wouldn't be moving forward so aggressively

Russians don't care about Hillary, they stick to their plan. They stopped bombing to give enough time to evacuate as much people from Aleppo as possible, then waited when their aircraft carrier came to the station near the Syrian coast. Very methodical, very reasonable.

The dash to Mosul in a failed attempt to give Hillary a pre-election boost - that was aggressive!

Understand now why putin wanted Trump in there? Had Hillary won, they wouldn't be moving forward so aggressively, since they're unlikely to meet resistance with "The Puppet". It's too late in the game for Obama to do anything binding about it.

So you believe the US should start a war with Russian to remove Assad and open Syria up to ISIS and worse? That's probably one of the best reasons sensible people supported Trump. I am rather surprised at your eagerness for war. What brings that about?

Understand now why putin wanted Trump in there? Had Hillary won, they wouldn't be moving forward so aggressively, since they're unlikely to meet resistance with "The Puppet". It's too late in the game for Obama to do anything binding about it.

Didn't see Raqqa on the targeting list. Wonder why?

Assad and Putin have made a deal; first, we get rid of the clear and most present danger to the Assad regime. then, and only then will we decide to to anything about ISIS. The bloody truth is that any Syrian resistance fighter is going to become collateral damage to Mr. Putin's new plan to acquire some clout in the Middle East. But, we have sat idly by for two years so what harm could a few more months do, right?