Syria: Time To Take The Gloves Off

“IRANIAN FORCES IN SYRIA WARN TURKISH MILITARY OVER RECENT DRONE STRIKES ON GREATER IDLIB” – Southfront

I sometimes forget that there are Iranian forces and militias, including the equally noble forces of Hezbollah in Syria, fighting alongside Syrian government troops. They generally receive little credit for what they do, operating mostly independently in the background but enabling Syrian forces the space and opportunity to perform the great work they are capable of, knowing their backs are covered and the ground they take is being held by strong allies.

Up to this point Iranian forces in Syria have refrained from hitting Turkish forces helping the terrorists, targeting only terrorist groups.  But they are now seeing their own troops being killed by Turkish fire.  They have had enough, it seems, and any further Turkish aggression towards Iranian or Iranian backed forces will likely escalate to Turkish forces becoming targets themselves. 

Syria’s allies appear to have had a gut full of being hit by those who are supposed to be fighting the common enemy.

It is about time that Russia stopped hiding behind the same thinking and began to see Turkish troops as legitimate targets also.  Come on Mr Putin, time to take the gloves off.  Whose side are you on here? Are you prepared to see more than four years of hard work overturned for the sake of etiquette?  Have you forgotten why your forces are there?