The Deterioration of Diplomacy in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Split - The Foreign...

Sorry I meant the deployment to Syria of the Russian SAM S-400 System :Range: 400km (248 miles)(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34976537

To your post I have to add, that it is not just the proxy war between the Shia and Sunni, but between Russia and the US and its allies now, which has really upped the Ante for everyone. The Russians are committing daily War Atrocities with their indiscriminate bombing of Civilian targets in Syria including Hospitals and Schools, and the US Supported Syrian Rebels, and they are making the situation in Syria even worse if that is possible to imagine. The Russians always deny this, but the reports form US and sources on the ground seem to verify this as does, recent Russian War Atrocities like the way they conducted their War in the Ukraine (shooting down that Malaysian Civilian Jet) and their brutal war in Chechnya. We hit a hospital in Afghanistan recently during a very muddled house to house MOUT fighting while supporting our Afghan allies in a major city, but we were fairly quick to take responsibility and launch a serious investigation. The Russians just keep droning on with their Propaganda campaign despite all the damning evidence and it is obvious that they use misinformation campaigns as a Weapon (classic KGB tactic) of War against NATO and the US.

The Russians just don't give a damn about civilian casualties the way the US and its allies do, and apparently their stockpile of guided munitions has run low in Syria. Our options are not good to deal with the Russians. We could give MANPADS to the Syrian Rebels to help them shoot down Russian Jets and helicopters, but that would be a serious escalation against the Ruskies, and who knows if any of those Stinger Missles would be sold, given or captured to/by ISIS? Also the Ruskies have now put in their best, most advanced SAM systems (SA-17s) in Syria that have a range of 250 Nautical Miles. So they have in effect put in effect an area denial strategy that is keeping our manned aircraft flights in support of the Syrian Rebels out of the range of those missiles (the Russians started "painting our planes" with those SAM Systems to send us and our pilots the message that if you come to close we will shoot you down).

It did not help that the Turks shot down a Russian Plane that strayed into Turkish Airspace while bombing Turkmen Syrian Rebels close to the border with Turkey in Syria. So Syria could "go hot" with a nasty Airwar (and possibly a Naval War) between the US and the Ruskies with the slightest misstep or provocation. We could take out their airbases in Syria or render them useless with Seaborne and Airborne Tomahawk Missles but then we would be in a real shooting war with the Russians and how far would they take that? Would they target US Military targets in the Pacific or in Europe, nobody wants a world wide war with the Russians, because of Syria. Unfortunately for the Syrians they are not that important to the US and NATO. Putin called our bluff in Syria and he made an aggressive move to back up the Syrian regime, and we were not willing to escalate the military costs to him, by either arming the Ukrainians or the Syrians rebels with sophisticated heavy weapons that could cause the Russians some real pain, like we did to the Soviets in the Afghan War. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/new-russian-air-defenses-in-syria-keep-u-s-grounded

It just didn't start! This was YEARS in the making!