The next few days could decide Syria's fate: Saudi troops are now massing on the Turkish border. Turkey claims the move is part of a joint Turkish-Saudi effort to eradicate ISIS, but Turkey's own foreign minister gave the real motive behind the imminent attack:

"Russia's target is supporting Assad, we all know that," he added. "But the question is this: Who will stop Russia doing that?"

Ash Carter, the American defence secretary, said on Friday that he expected the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates to send commandos to help recapture Islamic State's Syrian stronghold and de facto capital of Raqqa.

Not if Assad and Russia get to Raqqa first, though. And that's exactly what they plan to do:

Syrian government forces are poised to advance into the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province as allied Russian jets continue air strikes on rebel-held towns north of Aleppo, denying they have hit civilians.

An advance into Raqqa would re-establish a Syrian government foothold in the province for the first time since 2014 and may be aimed at pre-empting any move by Saudi Arabia to send ground forces to fight Islamic State militants in Syria.

We should note that Raqqa is only 160 km (that's less than 100 miles) from Aleppo. In less than two weeks, the "moderate" rebels have lost 20 strategic villages in Northern Aleppo. Once Aleppo falls, Raqqa would be the next logical target.

It's now a race against time. If Assad and his allies are able to crush ISIS before the US and its client states can make a move, the war is all but over.