No, this is good guys. You don’t want Assad to win,... or lose. You want him neutralized and kept in limbo. Putin in Russia will make sure to keep Assad armed, and our side, along with others, will keep the opposition armed. Result, no one wins, and both sides continue to fight each other, which is exactly what we should want. Keep these animals busy fighting each other, and thus they leave the rest of us alone. Perfect.
They will continue to decimate each other, not a bad thing, and keep the rest of the Middle East busy supplying and/or fighting on either side of this civil war (actually Sunni vs. Shi’ite war). All the good little martyrs from other countries will be flocking to the Syrian fight, and thus stay out of everyone in the West’s hair. Keep the fight even so that no one wins, and meanwhile many of these martyrs will end up with their 72 virgins, and thus out of the game on this mortal earth.
Yeah, we did real politic with Iraq/Iran for 10 years, supporting Iraq just enough to keep the fight going. Personally, I would like for us to dis-involve our ourselves from the crazy Middle East. We have enough problems at home that we have to work on.