We wrote here last month that US-Russian coordination on Syria could “be a catalyst for a new alignment that brings Turkey closer to Syria and Iran, while testing the limits and extent of Moscow’s influence among the regional players.”
Amberin Zaman, reporting this week on the “unprecedented” visit to Ankara of Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, Iran’s chief of general staff, writes that “as the United States and Russia seek ways to end the conflict and — as Iran and Turkey see things — cut deals behind their backs, Tehran and Ankara seem eager to project unity.”