DAVID COHEN:

Well, look, I'm not going to get into anything that the CIA may or may not be doing with respect to the battlefield in Syria.

I will say that the Russians, in particular, since they have come in to Syria last fall, you know, came in saying that they were there to fight Da'esh, to fight the terrorists, have spent most of their time trying to bolster Assad.

And what that has meant is helping the Syrian regime to bomb the moderate opposition in Syria, which has been putting pressure on the Assad regime. That is not fighting Da'esh, and it's taking a toll on the moderate opposition. But, you know, the State Department has a program to work with the moderate opposition.

Others around the world, frankly, in the Middle East and beyond are working to try and support the moderate opposition. They have been taking it on the chin recently, but they have also been quite resilient. You know, this conflict has been going on now for, you know, five years, close to five years.

And the moderate opposition has, you know, faced first the Syrian regime. They faced Hezbollah working with the Syrian regime. They faced the Iranians working with the Syrian regime and now they're facing the Russians working with the Syrian regime, and they are a resilient bunch.