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© Elizabeth ArrottThings are looking up for the Syrian army
Just hours after the incredible speech delivered by Russian President Putin at the United Nations General Assembly, the US has quietly announced that it will be suspending its program of training allegedly 'moderate' rebels in Syria to fight against the Assad regime.

Colonel Steve Warren told Foreign Policy that US forces were now looking to 're-evaluate' their efforts, which the news outlet calls a 'humiliating setback'.

While the US will continue to support those rebels it has already trained and deployed, it will no longer deploy new fighters.

Russia called the US move of arming and training rebels in Syria 'social engineering', with Putin being the only world leader to publicly take a stand against Western actions.

Yesterday, Putin called for the West to respect the 'valiant' efforts of Assad's government and the Syrian army in their fight against terrorism. Therefore, this move can easily be understood as the single biggest development in the on-going crisis in Syria, as it removes support from forces seeking to destroy Assad - a clear victory for Putin.

This cessation of support for forces fighting against Assad will strengthen the Syrian fight against ISIS. Perhaps, if that support was instead used in coalition with Russia's own efforts in the region, ISIS would be gone in almost no time at all.