This is all true, and appreciate the detail, but there's a couple of things. I don't think the S-300 are there to be used, it's there as part of the posturing. Likewise with the small US-led military buildup in Jordan, I doubt very much that Obama wants to commit US troops to Syria but he's putting them on standby to counter-posture the Russians.
And also - the S-300 might not be the newest or fanciest bit of weaponry around but it's enough to cause some concern to the US and Israel. Remember this from the Iraq War - "However, four days later, the Iraqis scored a direct hit on the Third Infantry Division, Second Brigade's Tactical Operations Center, with an Al-Samoud variant rocket, estimate 280 kg payload warhead, killing three soldiers, two foreign reporters, wounding 14 additional soldiers, and destroying 22 vehicles, mostly unarmored Humvees." and remember that was just one missile, or one batch of 6 possibly, from a desperate and defeated Iraqi army, it wasn't a co-ordinated artillery strike it was blind lashing out. They're weapons which can cause a great deal of damage if used correctly, even against a modern army, and certainly enough to make the yanks pause for thought before getting involved. You also wouldn't want one to be loaded up with Sarin gas and dropped over Tel Aviv that's for damn sure, and that kind of thing isn't unthinkable y'know. If the regime in Syria feels it'sabout to fal, then that sort of desperate thing to try and start world war 3 and internationalise the conflict is certainly possible.
. So with freinds like that in your jihad against Assad I assume it will all go swimmingly, as per usual .
