Author: Paul Antonopoulos
Paul Antonopoulos is currently a Candidate for an MA Degree, writing his dissertation on the Saudi-Iranian Geopolitical Rivalry in the Syrian War and is an analyst for Al-Masdar News. You can follow him on twitter. Al-Masdar News is also on twitter.
A very highly placed Israeli officer told Al-Monitor, on condition of anonymity, only a short time after the start of Russia’s involvement in Syria, that “Syria can become Russia’s Vietnam.” This has obviously been grossly misjudged. Russia is yet to commit any ground troops, and, for the foreseeable future, most likely will not, unlike the American campaign in Viet Nam.
Russia has shown that an effective air campaign complimented by reliable ground forces such as the Syrian Arab Army can have a profound impact on defeating terrorist groups like ISIS. The Russian air-strikes have exposed the mythology that ISIS can only be defeated…