U.S. seen unlikely to defend Syrian rebels from Russian strikes

By Matt Spetalnick and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Already out-gunned and out-manned in Syria’s civil war, U.S.-backed rebels are facing a new and possibly even more serious threat to their survival: Russian air strikes that Washington appears reluctant to thwart. The Obama administration – blindsided by the speed of Moscow’s direct intervention and a Russian target list that included CIA-trained fighters – made clear on Thursday that the it had no desire to incre