U.S. troops begin training Syrian rebels to fight ISIS
Rebels who have inflicted big losses on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad say that Russia’s intervention in support of its ally will only lead to an escalation of the war and may encourage the rebels’ Gulf Arab backers to pour in more military aid. U.S. officials say Russian forces are already arriving to the region.
Hoping to galvanize more support, rebels are evoking the Soviet failure in Afghanistan as a model for their struggle, and depicting Russia as a new occupier. But they also say this means the war, already in its fifth year, will go on even longer.