Article suggests Russia has finally had it with Assad and

[dezii]

friends...with Iran too with their actions in Syria against Israel..They, Iran, is only one interested in continuing the violence's...and USA not interested in interfering ...

The thought being , Russia has been there for 30 years and in todays world , that is just fine.

The reason Russia having a change of heart is that Assad and friends and family, his tribe too, are so corrupt, that as long as he and they are in  power, the Billions of investments needed to come into Syria to rebuild the country, that would benefit Russian business will never come into the country till Assad and friends are no longer in power..
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 "GAZIANTEP, Turkey—After five years fighting to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Russia now appears inclined to dispose of its infamous client.

Assad’s persistent brutality and corruption, and his inability to establish even the semblance of a functioning state, has grown to be a burden Moscow would prefer not to bear.

And then there’s the problem of Iran. Assad, members of his family, and his Alawite clansmen enjoy close, perhaps unbreakable, bonds to the regime in Tehran and to Iranian-backed militias in Syria. All of which undermines Moscow’s primary mission there: to rehabilitate the Assad regime as a symbol of stability ……."
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news.yahoo.com/five-bloody-years-syria-russia-090717713.html

[tractor]

It would be nice for someone else to step into a middle eastern conflict instead of relying on the US to do it. The Russia that got their ass kicked in Afghanistan looks a whole lot different now. Assad and his friends may just “disappear” one day.