Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah on Friday welcomed Russia’s military buildup in Syria in support of common ally President Bashar al-Assad, saying it was the failure of a US-led campaign against Islamic State that had forced Moscow’s hand.

Russia has stepped up its military involvement in Syria while pressing for Damascus to be included in international efforts to fight Islamic State, a demand Washington rejects. Byraising the stakes in Syria’s four-year conflict, Moscow has prompted its Cold War foe to expand diplomatic channels with it.

Nasrallah said Washington’s own campaign against IS, based on air strikes by a US-led coalition and training so-called moderate Syrian rebels to fight on the ground, had been a “devastating failure.”

http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/hezbollah-welcomes-russian-buildup-syria-says-us-has-failed