Geopolitics is the science of the intersection between geographic and political factors.

Geography is quasi time-invariant; tectonic shifts occur over thousands of years. Climates go through many shorter cycles lasting hundreds of years, as well as a long-run cycle.

Political variables change more frequently, driven by human dynamics evolving on a daily basis.

Geographically, the Levant has been at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa. This has made it more susceptible to changes in political order, being at the intersection of the major trade, demographic and economic blocs of the world.

Politically, spheres of influence are clusters that are a function of cultural homogeneity, supply chain linkages, institutional relations and military strength.

Geography is quasi-constant, while economic, cultural, demographic, technological and military variables evolve frequently, altering local political orders and cultural values and norms.

This helps shed light on why the Levant has frequently been at the crossroads of competing spheres of influence across time.

During the Antiquity, the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Assyrians and Greeks were the main competing factions.

Before the 400-year Pax Otomana, the Levant had constantly seen dynastic and imperial shifts every couple of centuries.

In the 1950s, Egypt, Syria, France, Britain and Israel called the shots. The commercial exploitation of oil altered the regional balance of power in the 1970s, bringing the rise of Iran, Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia into the fold.

Today, Iran, Turkey and Israel comprise the main regional heavyweights.

Decades, or hundreds of years from now, new political forces, under new flags, and new ideologies will emerge, and the same patterns of history will repeat themselves.

Being used as a proxy battleground by competing spheres of influence is the flipside of the same coin that enables countries to use them as beneficial diplomatic leverage, if they engage in the right policies to protect themselves.