> On Oct 11, 2015, at 4:41 PM, Robert Naiman <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:
>
>> the intervention is aimed at halting
>> the advance of the various Sunni militias backed by Saudi Arabia, the Gulf
>> states, and Turkey - creating the conditions for a peace settlement which
>> results in some form of power-sharing between the Assad regime and the
>> rebels. Beyond that, “Russia maintains relatively close ties with Israel,
>> and has little interest in aiding Iran and Hezbollah’s anti-Zionist agenda”.
>>
>> In fact, Russia is more likely to use its influence to restrain their
>> efforts to develop a military counter-weight to the Israelis - in which
>> case, it will may prove to be a more effective interlocutor than than the
>> US,