The Syrian civil war did not turn out how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hoped. Syrian President Bashar Assad (with Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah assistance) largely defeated opposition forces, some of which the United States backed and the most radical of which found support in Turkey.

As the Islamic State surrounded the Kurds in Kobane, a city immediately adjacent to Turkey’s border, Erdogan not only prevented the transit of much-needed supplies to them but at one point also allowed ISIS fighters to traverse Turkey’s border to try to outflank the Kurdish fighters. American airdrops of supplies to Kurdish fighters ultimately helped them break the siege. Only when Turkey recognized the inevitability of the Kurdish triumph did they open the border to Kurdish resupply in order to enable Erdogan to claim a share of the victory.