One of the motivating factors behind Russia's decision to intervene in Syria — aside from the obvious one, "the adults need to stop this" — is that Moscow could not allow extremists from Central Asia and the Caucasus to return home and start their own "moderate" uprising.

Besides, the Russians have a moral obligation to turn CIA/Saudi weapons and training into ash.

'Moderate' rebel flattener

And that's exactly what they did:

The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed al-Nusra HQ near Aleppo killing at least 67 terrorists, including 19 field commanders. On February 28, the headquarters of the al-Nusra terrorist group near Rasm al-Eis village, 28 kilometers south-west of Aleppo, was destroyed by a KAB-500 guided bomb launched by an Su-24 fighter jet of the Russian Aerospace forces, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, the chief of the Russian General Staff Main Operational Directorate, said on Friday. "As a result, 67 terrorists, including 19 field commanders — natives of the North Caucasus and Central Asia, were eliminated. 104 militants were injured," Rudskoi said.

Okay, we rounded up from nineteen. (We included the CIA contractor-trainer that Moscow was too polite to mention in its tally.)

Despite several "rebrandings", al-Nusra has never been able to hide the fact that it has received direct and indirect support from the CIA.

Keep at it, Russia. A job well done.

Here's a video for those who enjoy watching "moderate" rebel whack-a-mole: