In December 2004, Jordan’s King Abdullah first warned the world of the emergence of a Sh’ia crescent that could destabilize the region’s Sunni states. Initially discounted by numerous analysts, his observation proved prescient over much of the next two decades.

With Iran as its fulcrum, the Sh’ia crescent included Baathist Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian Hamas, Yemen’s Houthis, and Iraq’s militias. But today, that crescent is no more.

Over the last year, Iran has seen its proxies collapse, one by one. Israel’s 2024 pager attacks against Hezbollah were followed up with the killing of long-time Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024, and then his successor. Then came Israel's invasion of Lebanon in October, leading quickly to a November cease-fire, that seriously weakened the terrorist group.

In Syria, the Iran-aligned Assad regime fell in December after thirteen years of civil war. The new transitional government, which came to power in March 2025, ended the longstanding and heavy Iranian presence in that country.

Israel’s two-year war with the Iranian-backed Hamas has led to a ceasefire which, as in Lebanon, has seriously weakened the terrorist group. It is now exceedingly unlikely that Hamas will ever resume its........

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