For whom will the bell toll in Syria?

Russian President Vladimir Putin can be likable, and he can be detestable -- he cannot, however, be ignored. When Putin says something, he means it. He said Crimea belonged to Russia, and simply annexed it from "Little Russia" -- otherwise known as Ukraine. He said he would help Syrian President Bashar Assad, and on Wednesday, for the first time since the onset of the Syrian crisis, he did so as Russian jets began bombing targets in Homs (we didn't know the Islamic State group was there) only a few hours after the Russian parliament gave Putin the green light.

Putin's latest chapter in Syria has the potential to be particularly combustible. Note the sheer number of forces currently operating in what was once a country. In a now-fractured Syria, at least 157 jihadi terror groups are fighting the president, who is nothing less than a fascist butcher himself. The Islamic State group (the new scourge of the world) has turned the city of Raqqa into the capital of the caliphate it has established in Syria and Iraq. Iran and Hezbollah are also active in Syria. Meanwhile, coalition forces, including the United States, European countries, Australia and several Arab states are also conducting military operations there -- and now the Russian bear has awoken as well.

Indeed, no one predicted just how brutal, complex and prolonged the Syrian civil war would be. As it continues to rage, it is liable to blow up in everyone's faces, and it is just beyond our northern border. Not to mention the religious element playing a prominent role in Syria, with Alawites, Sunnis and Shiites locked in bitter conflict.

Russia's now pro-active intervention in Syria is reminiscent of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Then, too, no one foresaw the direction it would take; no one predicted the conflict would become international in nature. The Soviet Union, hoping to spawn another communist state, supported the Republicans; while Nazi Germany and Italy, due to their ideological ties to the Spanish Right, backed the Nationalists. That war also lasted a long time, was bloody and fierce, and led to the deaths of half a million people. In Syria, we have already reached half that number. The difference is that in Spain there were two states fighting one another, the Republicans and the Nationalists. In Syria there are more. In 1940, Ernest Hemingway wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls" about the war, based on his personal experiences. We can only wonder for whom the bell will toll in Syria.

The four years of fighting in Syria have frustrated U.S. President Barack Obama. The president, some claim, believes that greater American intervention in Syria will only complicate matters. Putin is convinced that Russia's intervention in Syria today is a threat to Washington. It perhaps won't lead to the eradication of Islamic State -- but it will surely help Assad survive.

The lack of American leadership has left a very large vacuum in Syria. So big, in fact, that it made room for Russia, Iran and Hezbollah to march in. Obama has many reasons for concern. He thought he bought himself a legacy on July 14, when he reached the nuclear deal with Iran; but suddenly his legacy could be the civil war in Syria and the revival of Russian influence in the Middle East. Ronald Reagan is turning in his grave.

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