All Putin cares about is that Russia continues to have the naval base in Tartus, Syria. It's all that Russia has, just about anywhere in the world, and certainly all they have in the Mediterranean. Simple fact is that the Rebels et al. got too close to Tartus and Assad's troops got too weak. I also noticed the Russian troops secured the nearest Syrian arms depot. No sense having that get knocked off and used against them. Early reports insist that rebel TOW missiles are taking out Russian tanks. They are asking for MANPAD, shoulder launched anti-aircraft missiles. This could turn into a nasty little war.