The last rebel bastion in Syria, Idlib, may soon fall to Assad and the Russian troops assisting him. The US appears to have no intention to reverse this conclusion. Syria will become, or already has become, a Russian proxy state. Russia will have its desired seaport and Assad as her ally.
Syrian forces will then extract penalties on all resisting parties still in the country. We will never know the number of casualties.
The US never had a choice. Obama knew this, and so does Trump. We couldn’t afford to risk another failed state in the Middle East. We had no appetite for another Iraq.
And the Syrian refugees in Jordan and Turkey? Those who can return will return, to what they deem to be a country under the control of Assad. I’m told the refugees are already beginning to go back to their homeland. As amazing as it sounds, Assad has won.
