“Recent events in our region, especially in Syria, remind us of an important fact: Turkey is bigger than Turkey itself,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a speech at the Turkish Academy of Sciences on Dec. 18.

The Turkish president’s words should be read against the backdrop of the balance of terror between his country and Israel, which have long maintained a love-hate relationship, receiving a significant twist in the wake of the current war.

This has intensified even further following the fall of the Assad regime and the establishment of the new government in Damascus, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has enjoyed long-standing support from Ankara.