Did Russia Intervene In Syria Because The U.S. Was Supplying TOW Missiles?

Video shows the moment when #FSA|s Brigade.13 destroyed a #Syria|n regime T-72 tank in #Hama|s northern countryside. pic.twitter.com/Eb4LSIjVUb

— Sakir Khader (@sakirkhader) October 9, 2015

Washington Post: Did U.S. weapons supplied to Syrian rebels draw Russia into the conflict?

BEIRUT — American antitank missiles supplied to Syrian rebels are playing an unexpectedly prominent role in shaping the Syrian battlefield, giving the conflict the semblance of a proxy war between the United States and Russia, despite President Obama’s express desire to avoid one.

The U.S.-made BGM-71 TOW missiles were delivered under a two-year-old covert program coordinated between the United States and its allies to help vetted Free Syrian Army groups in their fight against President Bashar al-Assad. Now that Russia has entered the war in support of Assad, they are taking on a greater significance than was originally intended.

So successful have they been in driving rebel gains in northwestern Syria that rebels call the missile the “Assad Tamer,” a play on the word Assad, which means lion. And in recent days they have been used with great success to slow the Russian-backed offensive aimed at recapturing ground from the rebels.

WNU Editor: I am sure there were/are many reasons on why Russia decided to intervene in Syria .... supplying sophisticated and lethal weapons to the rebels was probably one of them. This Washington Post article is a must read .... it outlines in detail the supply chain on how U.S. TOW weapons have ended up in the hands of Syrian rebels.