Fall of Damascus a boost for Ankara

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on a roll. Despite Turkey having emerged—along with Israel—as a major geopolitical winner of the fall of the Assad regime, he isn't taking time off to rest on his laurels.

- ZARRAR KHUHRO

Shortly after the fall of Damascus, Erdogan brokered a deal between Ethiopia and Somalia, resolving a dispute which had arisen due to landlocked Ethiopia's plans to build a port in Somaliland, a breakaway republic Somalia considers part of its territory. This was a flashpoint that had regional implications, given that Egypt had aligned with Somalia as a response to Ethiopia building a dam on the Nile, something that Cairo viewed as a threat.

Erdogan then offered to step in to resolve the disputes between Sudan and the UAE, which has been accused of funding and arming Sudanese rebels, in particular the murderous Rapid Support Force headed by Hamdan Dagalo, who is fighting against the de facto ruler of Sudan, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

This is also a case of Erdogan trolling the UAE, given that ties between the two countries aren't exactly stellar and that the Turkey-UAE rivalry is one of the greatest untold stories of modern West Asia. With this offer, Erdogan sends a clear signal that he isn't quite done with his project to expand Turkish influence. Indeed, one can safely anticipate that he will next focus on Libya, where Turkey is firmly entrenched and is backing the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord against Gen Haftar's Libyan National Army, which is backed by the UAE, among others.