The balance of power is shifting in the Middle East – and it is Turkey’s ‘full moon’ on the rise | Hassan Hassan

Ankara’s support of Syria’s rebels was a strategic triumph that confirms it is replacing Iran as the regional powerhouse

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria marks the end of Iran’s long-feared “Shia crescent” and the rise of Turkey’s “full moon”, reshaping the geopolitical landscape from the Horn of Africa to the Levant and Afghanistan. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s backing of the Syrian rebels has elevated Ankara to the status of a regional powerhouse, one whose influence now encircles all the major players in the region.

Turkey played a pivotal role in the rebels’ surprising triumph. The operation unfolded with an extraordinary lack of the kind of violent destruction that has characterised Syrian campaigns over the past 13 years. Turkey provided intelligence, guidance and political cover.

Hassan Hassan is the founder and editor-in-chief of New Lines magazine

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