driven the u.s. out of syria. you can expect that isis will have plenty to say about it. what will happen to the thousands of u.s.-backed forces in syria that the u.s. has been training on the ground with those u.s. ground forces? will they be abandoned? russia and iran, that's the next factor. they all have forces and militias in syria especially iranian backed militias. will they be able to now gain new ground, new influence in syria? while the u.s. was there for the reason of fighting isis, it very much was a hedge against russian and iranian expansion inside syria. that was just one of the consequences of the u.s. presence there and the u.s. had wanted, they had been very much aware of that and felt was a good thing to be a hedge against the expansion if it wasn't their formal reason for being there. the u.s. could still conduct air