Assad is giving Russia a reason to act against his government.

Assad has lost control of his country's assets. This is a huge problem that should not be minimized. Russia needs to provide a way for Assad to step down while securing the military assets of the country. It is a near impossible task at this point, but, Russia needs to work with other nations in the area, including NATO, to bring about the end of this continuing disaster.

A passenger jet with 200 people on board is forced to take evasive action as it is targeted by two missiles, says Russian media.

8:51pm UK, Monday 29 April 2013

About 160 people (click here) were on board the charter aircraft at the time of the attack, the origin of which remains unknown, a source told the Interfax news agency.

An unnamed source is understood to have said: "Syrian (officials) informed us that on Monday morning, unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles which exploded in the air very close to a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline."

The source said the pilots managed to manoeuvre but it was only because they did so that lives were saved.

The source added: "It remains unclear whether the attackers knew whether it was Russian or not."

Russia is an ally of the embattled regime of President Bashar al Assad, who is struggling to hold on to Syria amid a civil war that he seen 70,000 killed....