In answering that question, it would seem that a solid contender to do so is the past, in other words the layered history of the Cold War, or, respectively, of the rather unsuccessful attempts of the last two decades to overcome its schemes, tensions and traditional stakes. If one wants to understand why the United States of America have decided, in the end, to shift to an aggressive stance plainly enough for the world to see, by going past the point a direct military involvement in Syria, then they absolutely need to revisit the museum of the "Cold War", more specifically the parts dedicated to the confrontation between the "East and the West" in the Middle East. That would be where would be revealed, in all of their complexity, the roles played by Syria, one of the most important pawns of the Soviet influence, and by Russia, respectively, in the region. Syria's significant position stems both from its direct involvement in the armed confrontations and later from the conflict with Israel concerning the Golan Heights, as well as from the direct control exerted by Damascus over the main lines of maneuver in the unconventional war fueled through the Hezbollah. From that point of view, the "al-Assad" regimes have carried without any hesitation the banner of the direct armed struggle against Israel, as part of the efforts to restructure the power positions in the region, created together with the creation and the international recognition of the state of Israel, namely together with its firm placement under the security umbrella of the US. Of course, Syria also plays an essential part on the war on the "unseen front", as it was a turntable for numerous acts of espionage and unconventional influencing of the politics in the area, and, at the same time, a safe haven for the staging of those actions, specifically for the safe retreat after the attacks. After the operations