One explanation here is that a conscious decision was made to withdraw. People tend to forget that the adversaries of the empire also have agency as well. Russia and Iran aren’t stupid, and they likely saw that the west was going to flare up the conflict in Syria again. One option was to pour resources into Syria to fight off the jihadists. This would be long and protracted quagmire just as it was last time around. The other options was simply to withdraw and let them take it. These groups all hate each other, and they’re not a cohesive fighting force. They’re already starting to fight each other just days after taking over, and it’s only going to get worse. An iron rule is that when something looks too good to be true it usually is.
One explanation here is that a conscious decision was made to withdraw. People tend to forget that the adversaries of the empire also have agency as well. Russia and Iran aren’t stupid, and they likely saw that the west was going to flare up the conflict in Syria again. One option was to pour resources into Syria to fight off the jihadists. This would be long and protracted quagmire just as it was last time around. The other options was simply to withdraw and let them take it. These groups all hate each other, and they’re not a cohesive fighting force. They’re already starting to fight each other just days after taking over, and it’s only going to get worse. An iron rule is that when something looks too good to be true it usually is.