How the Iran war can help Syria manage Turkey and its regional rivals - AL-MONITOR

Trump's reckless military brinkmanship with Iran is handing Syria's government an unexpected diplomatic windfall, allowing Damascus to play regional powers against each other while American service members remain in harm's way.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has been working the phones and meeting rooms across the region, using the Trump administration's manufactured Iran crisis as leverage in negotiations with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other neighbors. According to diplomatic sources cited by AL-Monitor, the escalating tensions have given Syria bargaining chips it hasn't had in years.

The dynamic is straightforward: As Trump beats the drums of war with Iran to distract from corruption investigations and tanking poll numbers at home, regional powers are scrambling to position themselves for the fallout. Syria, which has been rebuilding its international standing after years of civil war, is exploiting that uncertainty to extract concessions.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with al-Shaibani in Damascus in December, a visit that would have been unthinkable without the regional instability Trump's Iran policy has created. Turkey, which has its own complicated relationship with both Syria and Iran, is now forced to hedge its bets as American military action threatens to spiral out of control.

The Trump administration's approach to Iran has been a masterclass in manufacturing crisis for political gain. After unilaterally withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, despite the agreement working exactly as designed, Trump imposed crushing sanctions that he called "maximum pressure." The policy failed to achieve any of its stated objectives while pushing Iran closer to nuclear weapons capability and destabilizing the entire region.

Now, with Trump facing multiple criminal investigations, impeachment proceedings, and historically low approval ratings, the timing of this military escalation is suspiciously convenient. Nothing rallies support for a failing president like a foreign conflict, and Trump has shown repeatedly that he will sacrifice American lives and interests for his own political survival.

Syria is not the only country taking advantage of the chaos. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and even Israel are all recalibrating their regional strategies based on the assumption that Trump's Iran policy will continue to create instability they can exploit. Each meeting, each diplomatic overture, each new alliance is built on the foundation of American recklessness.

American troops stationed in Syria and Iraq are the ones who will pay the price for this cynical political calculation. They are sitting targets for Iranian-backed militias and other groups that see them as symbols of Trump's aggression. Every escalation increases the risk of attacks on US personnel who have been sent into harm's way not to defend American interests, but to prop up a president's approval ratings.

The pattern is clear and it is damning. Trump creates a crisis through incompetent or malicious policy decisions. Regional actors exploit the resulting chaos to advance their own interests. American service members and civilians bear the consequences. Trump uses the conflict to distract from domestic scandals and rally his base. Repeat.

Syria's diplomatic maneuvering is just one example of how Trump's foreign policy failures create opportunities for adversaries and competitors. When the United States acts unpredictably and aggressively, other countries adapt. They form new alliances, cut new deals, and position themselves to benefit from American decline.

The tragedy is that none of this had to happen. The Iran nuclear deal was working. International inspectors confirmed Iran was complying with its terms. European allies supported the agreement. The region was more stable. But Trump needed a political win with his base, so he tore it up and replaced it with a policy of escalation that has made everyone less safe.

Now Syria is playing Turkey against Saudi Arabia, using the threat of Iranian retaliation to extract concessions, and generally behaving like a country that knows the United States is too distracted and dysfunctional to maintain a coherent regional strategy. They are right.

Trump's Iran war is not about protecting American interests or promoting regional stability. It is about protecting Donald Trump. The fact that Syria can exploit it for diplomatic gain is just one more piece of evidence that this administration's foreign policy is driven entirely by domestic political calculations, with no regard for the consequences.

American troops deserve better than to be pawns in a reality TV president's ratings game. The region deserves better than policies designed to create crises rather than solve them. And the American people deserve to know that when Trump talks about Iran, he is talking about his own political survival, not theirs.