As events have shown, when push came to shove, Iran (along with Russia) was quite happy to throw Ba’athist (secular) Syria under the bus and permit its takeover by ISIS. All this subterfuge has its origins in the deluded mindset of religiosity. These people literally believe that despite the negative weight of material conditions – those who believe in a disembodied sky-spirit will eventually (and magically) achieve a completely unexpected victory against all the odds. I once wrote that even if Palestine eventually prevailed against the Zionist Juggernaut – we would still be left with the religious problem of militant Islam (conditioned by decades of resistance to Zionist-fascism).