Fall of Aleppo puts Iran on cusp of 'Shi'ite crescent' of influence

By Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran has played a pivotal role in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's campaign to crush rebel resistance in Aleppo and is now close to establishing a "Shi'ite crescent" of regional influence stretching from the Afghan border to the Mediterranean Sea. Revolutionary Guards commanders and senior clerics in Tehran have this week praised Iran's defeat of "Wahhabi terrorists" in Syria and the country they characterise as the rebels' patron, Sunni Muslim regiona