well, of course the kurds want you to blame it on turkey.

but, if this group is al qaeda linked, the most likely means of the americans distributing these weapons, and especially considering the geopolitical realities at the moment, is via the saudis. the russians really took out the saudi positions in syria pretty badly; my guess is that there's probably quite a bit of hardware floating around, after that - all of it american made, and purchased with oil money.

this will not be the only saudi retaliation against russia; unfortunately, the russians should expect some bombings to take place. they should also expect the saudis to continue funding forces in the region, regardless of outcome or consequence, more or less for so long as the regime exists.

with the turks aligning with both russia and iran, expect the saudi-turk conflict to become the dominant proxy war in the region, and note that the dimensions have changed: this is no longer a struggle over who gets to take control of syria under american hegemony - who gets to be the regional power - but now a struggle between whether the area is remade in american or russian interests. this proxy war has merged with the cold war between the saudis and iran and is in the process of consuming it - if there is movement from iran against the saudis, it will be co-ordinated with the turks.

and, maybe the russians.

https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/02/russia-jet-downed-syria-idlib.html

jagmeet singh must cut his beard.