Yes Jessie ... getting rid of Assad is the key. During the (oil) landgrab phase it may however suit the Kremlin to keep him there.
Nobody can use military force to imply "squash" the extreme Islamist cause. Everyone .... even Putin and Obama know it. The Iranian mullahs wel know it..... and not of these stake holders wish to "occupy" such space.
The YPG is seeking aligned elements of the FSA to launch into central Syria from Rojava ...... but of course such elements don't have the capacity. So on it goes. And to get the Arab tribes more fully on-side the PYD needs to dump it's Albanian (Turkish) style of Communism. More challenges .... with the PYD hardliners now well embedded thanks to Turkey. Thus all we can hope for ATM is little wins ... a village here or there.
My focus has been off Iran for the moment and as a consequence I don't know how much materiel they have on the ground. Failure to deal with Russia to the mutual satisfaction of parties will play into Iran's hands with absolute certainty.
