A win for Ankara How Erdogan's balancing act has paid off for Turkey

Less than a week after the deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, Turkish officials raised their flag over the embassy in Damascus.

- Ruth Michaelson

While many of the shutters on the palatial villa remained closed, the red and white crescent flew over the embassy rooftop for the first time in 12 years.

It was a moment preceded days before by the arrival in the Syrian capital of Turkey's spy chief, Ibrahim Kalin. Just after the Assad regime fell, Kalin rode in a black sedan driven by the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Sharaa in civilian dress. The spy chief prayed beneath the hallowed archways of the Umayyad mosque, before emerging to stunned crowds gathered to see the first foreign dignitary to visit the new Syrian leadership.

Dareen Khalifa of the International Crisis Group describes Kalin's visit to the Syrian capital as "a victory lap," with Ankara emerging as a major beneficiary from the new government in Damascus. The toppling of Assad has vindicated the Syria approach of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at home, granted Ankara new opportunities in a power struggle across Kurdish areas in the north-east and afforded it fresh influence as Syria rebuilds.

"Relations between HTS and Turkey shouldn't be overestimated, it's not a proxy relationship," says Khalifa. "But Turkey was smart to wait until things were settled and then go in full force with Kalin's visit and other senior people."