Washington The U.S. intelligence community now thinks Russia may have embarked on its military buildup in Syria because Moscow believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may not be able to hang onto power and it wants to position itself to back a proxy if the regime were to collapse.
Military and defense officials told CNN that after the Obama-Putin meeting, they are hoping the Obama administration will quickly make some decisions about U.S. cooperation with rebels in northern Syria, because they see a rare opportunity that could easily be missed.
The United States is trying to assess whether figures in Syria still exist who might be able to step in should al-Assad fall, a senior U.S. official told CNN, but for now doesn't see a clear leader or dissident who could garner enough support inside Syria to take power.
