by Gordon M. Hahn Initially, Western governments and mass media put out reports that Russia’s first air sorties in Syria “were not targeting the Islamic State” (IS or ISIS or Daesh) and that this demonstrates Putin has no intention of fighting jihadists but has intervened in Syria to prop up the Bashar Assad regime. Soon, reports emerged … Continue reading Spheres of Operation and the Levant’s Competing Counter-Jihadi Coalitions