The US involvement is Syria never made any sense from a pure “what is our National Interest” in spending money and risking American lives perspective. It just looked like meddling.
Over time, it became obvious that this was an effort on behalf of our allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. Imagine the alarms that should have gone off when Saudi Arabia and Israel agree on something, but obviously they didn’t.
Our military supported some groups and our CIA supported others and there were even times when both of these groups actively fought against each other. We’ve bombed civilians, dropped chemical weapons and other war efforts that most folks would find wrong. And again, for what national interest?
Well, in spite of our efforts, Syria with the help of Russia has won. Even Saudi Arabia concedes that this was a failed effort. President Trump publicly directed the CIA to stop their efforts in Syria.
Yet, our involvement continues. Our forces even took Russian soldiers hostage.
This one makes no sense and in light of the fact that Russia’s foreign aid support has been very popular with the Syrian people, just makes us look stupid. Read more here. And here.