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>Why is this guy pretending that the US has been protecting Assad when they were quite explicit from the beginning in their intention to bring about regime change in Syria

This has never been the position of the US government. There have been some in the State Department establishment who have called for it, but it was never taken up in a serious way. The position of the Obama regime has been to call for Assad to step down, impose sanctions on them due to political pressure, but to insure that the state remains in tact. Stability in a region wrecked by capital and going through a wave of revolution is more important than toppling someone who has links to Iran - especially when the United States is in active retreat from the region in an attempt to reorient towards China. The existence of a stable strong regime has become all the more important as they can act as a bulwark against IS.

The only forces who have wanted to actually topple him have been the Saudis, Oman, and Turkey - although their interventions have been limited to allowing supplies through (in Turkey's case) and providing funds to select groups (Saudis, Oman).

>and in fact actively supported Syrian rebels

The US has actively maintained an embargo of heavy weapons on the opposition forces, preventing them from purchasing the anti-tank and anti-air missiles that would (somewhat) equalise the conflict.

>The US-Iranian regime...

He's specifically talking about the nature of the Iraqi government as being a client of both Iran and the United States.

>Iran is really enemy #1 in the region as far as the US is concerned.

The US is not concerned about the region. It has struck a deal with Iran and is intent on withdrawing the bulk of it's forces to be redeployed in Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific. Obviously it can't do that now since IS is a major destabilising threat and any immediate withdrawal would make the situation a lot worse for the US, leading to the deal with Iran and the now defacto alliance between Iran and Syria and the US.

>I don't even know what to say to this one. This guy is something else.

He's mocking you.

>The reality is that whatever credibility the revolution had when it was leftists, students and workers airing their more than legitimate concerns with the Syrian regime

These workers, students, and leftists (more or less petite-bourgeois liberals, there was never a real left in Syria, much like Australia in that regard) are still there. There are thousands of grassroots activits still active across Syria, but more so in the rebel held zones because they can act with relative impunity and don't have to worry about the secret police dragging them off to be tortured to death.

> it was subverted by Jihadists just like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and just like the Iranian clergy in 1979.

The only reason this could happen was the brutality of Assad when first faced with anti-government protests and forcing the revolution to militarise. The reason islamist groups became so prevalent was because they were the only ones getting money and guns from the outside, and the only ones that could fight back so why wouldn't people join these groups.

>just like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt

So you support the counter-revolutionary military regime of Sisi? The Muslim Brotherhood are neoliberal democrats, at worst they would be like a Muslim version of the Liberal Party.

Also; saying that every opposition group in Syria (or that the MB) are jihadists, is literally just saying that every Muslim that engages in politics is a terrorist. A perfect example of "left-wing" Islamophobia and orientalism.

For further reading: https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Country-Syrians-Revolution-War/dp/0745336221