The Russian deployment to Syria is game-changing.It will alter the nature of international negotiations, compromise and weaken the cohesion and efforts of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition, strengthen the Assad regime, and initiate direct Russo-Iranian military operations (suggesting the creation of a de facto Russo-Iranian military coalition, at least in Syria) for the first time.
The U.S. and its partners must fundamentally reassess their approach to the Syrian conflict in light of this critical inflection.