Putin as "new decision-maker in U.S. war against IS"

Putin as "new decision-maker in U.S. war against IS"

"His office is the Kremlin and his name is Vladimir Putin. Moscow’s airstrikes were a message to Washington: If you want to get rid of Assad - or build a force that can take on ISIS - you’re going to have to deal with us," said the article, published under the headline, "Putin hijacks Obama's war on ISIS."

That Washington will not easily accept Russia's entry into the war is supported by information that Russian planes struck a base of Syrian rebels trained by the CIA. Moscow is saying this is about a propaganda war that has been ongoing for a while.

"Privately, U.S. officials told The Daily Beast that the bombing campaign forces them to deal with Russia. Militarily, the U.S. will now have to watch for Russian strikes and their impact on the war. Diplomatically, the coalition must give Russia a seat at the table," the article continued, and added:

"The picture that emerged Wednesday afternoon was of a U.S. administration that wasn’t taken by surprise when Russia attacked - American officials had been telegraphing the strikes for nearly 10 days - but that had no real response to a Russian offensive that has now encompassed both the ISIS forces that the U.S. is trying to destroy."

Moscow and Washington's hold opposite positions when it comes to supporting the current Syrian authorities, and the article quoted "experts who said that with Moscow backing Assad - and a Washington-led coalition reluctant to confront the Russians -the Obama administration’s calls for Assad to go, at least in the short term, are meaningless."

Washington-based Institute for the Study of War analyst Christopher Harmer said: “The obvious answer is it makes it impossible for the United States to decide now that we want to remove Assad from power. You can’t have the Russians embedded with Syrians and then attack the Assad regime. We can’t possibly risk an inadvertent conflict with Russia.”