Is Syria another Cold War Proxy War like in the 1980s and before?

With the Russian Navy moving "Permanently" into the Mediterranean it has all the hallmarks of it.

It is obvious to everyone that without Iran and Russia's help Assad would have been defeated by the rebels by now. So, from this point of view, "Yes. This is a proxy war at least as far as Russia and Iran are concerned. But to understand why Russia is doing this has more to do with the History of the Soviet Empire and Russian Pride more than anything else. If you study how large Soviet Influence was from the time of Stalin until the time of Gorbachev this all makes much more sense.

For some reason Russia drew a line in the sand with Syria much like President Bush drew a line in the sand in Iraq after Saddam tried to assassinate the elder Bush. So, likewise, Putin is drawing a line in the sand in regard to Syria and Assad and in this sense is also in alliance with Iran. So, not only is this dangerous to the Sunni presence in Syria but also to Sunnis throughout the middle east. One wonders if this new MERS disease in Saudi Arabia that kills 55% of those who get it was genetically engineered and put there by Russia or Iran? But, that sort of doesn't make any sense because it will inevitably spread to Iran and other countries in the Middle East and Europe soon as well the way things are presently going. But doing this might make sense if it was Assad's people doing this because of desperate measures being taken there.