The same spokesmen are sometimes vague - referring to Isil and terrorists in the same breath. By “terrorists” they mean the same as Bashar al-Assad - anyone part of the armed opposition. And it so happens that the gravest threat to the regime’s core areas - Damascus, and the central and western plains to the coast - comes from non-Isil rebels. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president has also said that he believes the survival of the Assad regime is very important, so it makes sense to target them first.