SYRIA: The US is finding itself increasingly dragged into Syria's quagmire. Despite earlier pledges by President Barack Obama not to put US boots on the ground, he last week authorized the deployment of US special forces to Syria to advise opposition fighters, but stressed numbers would be fewer than 50 and that troops would stay away from front lines. This week the Pentagon said it would repeat weapons and ammunitions drops to Syrian opposition fighters after a mid-October drop appeared to help them retake territory from Islamic State. With Russian doubling its contingent in Syria to 4,000 and Saudi Arabia promising more funding to opposition fighters, none of it points to success for Russia-inspired peace talks (p4).
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