Having said that, there's no denying that the nastiest Machiavels – Erdogan, Putin, Assad - have emerged triumphant and emboldened. US forces withdrew and left a clear playing field for Putin and Erdogan to strike a deal in Moscow. The Gulfies were even willing to forgo Sunni majority power in Syria so long as Assad repudiated Iran. Consider ISIS oil, which many argued was the ISIS Caliphate's primary source of revenue after it conquered various oil fields. He can also, at any time, push or pull on the Iran threat to Israel via Syria or Hezbollah.

Source: Forbes October 24, 2019 17:26 UTC