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In the spring of 2013 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee authorized(15-3) Obama/CIA to begin arming the moderate rebels in Syria, and the Intelligence Committee would approve the CIA plan. The only opposition to this was the isolationists like Rand Paul and Mike Lee plus the antiwar dems.

By early 2014 these rebels were complaining that the pace was too slow and they needed anti-aircraft weapons. There was some talk(McCain) about giving them the anti-aircraft weapons but that ended when the airliner got shot in Ukraine.

So in Aug 2014, congress approved more money and expanded training to the military.

Because of this, the tide turned against Assad, so, Assad asked Putin for help. Of course Putin will deal with ISIS also, but, he needs to take care of these groups being supported by the US and the Gulf Sunni States who are the biggest threat to Assad.

Syrian military weakness, painfully exposed over the last few months, is the main reason for direct Russian intervention in the war – whether its goal is to strike at Islamic State or, more likely, to take on any rebel force fighting Bashar al-Assad in order to shore up his position and stave off demands that he step down.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/01/syrian-military-weakness-russian-intervention

What should have been done last year was this
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/what-to-do-about-syria-sectarianism-and-the-minorities/ but the Obama administration has no workable foreign Policy.

What you’ve described is a rogue Obama operation to funnel cash and weapons to Islamic terrorists in Syria using the fiction of “moderate rebels” to either fool Congressional oversight or provide them with a plausible cover story.

That lie has been exposed.