Moscow’s air power, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corpsand Hezbollah militants helped stabilize the battle lines. But Mikhail Khodarenok, a prominent Russian military observer, warned recently that ‚Syrian armed forces have not conducted a single successful offensive during the past year,‘ and results of the fighting are ‚disastrous.‘ Like his father, Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria for three decades, Bashar is playing the Kremlin, undermining its strategic flexibility. (…) The Kremlin seems eager for a quick if gory end to the rebellion in eastern Aleppo. It doubtless wants the international fury to fade, although how much Moscow cares about global opinion is a question. In any case, Russia might think that an America in political transition will be less able to rally global condemnation.“
(Colin P. Clarke/William Courtney: „Only U.S. resolve can save Syrians“)