FOUR years ago, Bashar al-Assad faced peaceful protesters demanding democracy, freedom of speech, and an end to his vicious oppression. Assad responded in his usual way – he made conciliatory noises, while ordering his security forces to shoot, arrest, torture and murder the protesters.

He claimed he faced a threat from “terrorists”; and to make this lie into the truth, he released from jail many Islamist militants who joined forces with IS and other Jihadist groups.

This served to de-legitimise the peaceful protests, and to discourage the West from supporting the opposition for fear of replacing the Assad regime with something worse. The original protesters have not gone away, but work behind the scenes, caring for the victims of Assad’s murderous barrel-bombs, establishing schools, field hospitals, subversive radio stations etc, and reporting Assad’s atrocities to the outside world.

Russia has now entered the fray, bombing groups linked to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army as well as ISsis, and endorsing Assad’s lie that anyone who opposes him is a terrorist.

Vladimir Putin has out-manoeuvred the West, and destroyed any hope of a diplomatic resolution.

The winners will be the Jihadists, who will welcome many new recruits.

The losers, as ever, will be the ordinary citizens of Syria, who will have to endure many more years of death and destruction.

Pete Winstanley, Durham