Netanyahu Admits Striking Base in Syria to Warn Turkey
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a threat and a firm warning to Turkey after striking an airbase in Idlib, Syria. He asserted that Israel had sent a message to Turkey not to establish bases in Syria.
“We will not tolerate Turkish military efforts to strengthen their position southward, because that threatens us,” Netanyahu said in an Army Radio podcast.
He said Israel had initially sent a message “in general terms” opposing the Turkish military presence at an airfield near Aleppo, located not far from the Turkish border.
“It seems they did not hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” he said.
Netanyahu’s comments came a day after his office did not explicitly acknowledge Israeli responsibility for the strike, but stated that Turkish forces had recently inspected the base and warned that Israel would not tolerate the “threat” posed by Turkey’s presence there.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said the Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria carried “a real risk of rapid escalation into direct military confrontation” with both Turkey and Syria.
Barrack told the Israeli newspaper that Turkish forces were unaware of any Israeli aircraft heading towards the Syrian base or the purpose of the movement.
As a result, he said, they were “potentially prompted to deploy their own fighter jets believing they were under attack”. “Yesterday’s incident was serious and concerning. However, we are relieved that there were no casualties and the situation did not deteriorate further,” Barrack added.
Israel confirmed it was behind the overnight airstrike targeting a Syrian military airbase — a location Israel claims was to be used by Turkey to deploy forces.
“Israel and Syria had agreed on a status quo regarding security matters, but Syria came close to breaching it by allowing Turkish forces to be stationed at an airbase near Aleppo,” read a statement in English from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Prime Minister’s Office stated that Israel “has repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security.” “Syria chose to ignore these warnings,” Netanyahu’s office said, adding that Israel “will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo.”
In response, Ankara condemned the “reckless accusations levelled by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office” — as stated in a Turkish government statement quoted by the state news agency Anadolu — and said the accusations were “aimed at legitimising Israel’s illegal airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
An unnamed Turkish official also denied to Axios that Ankara was seeking to establish a military presence at the Abu Duhur airbase in Idlib Province. “There is no Turkish presence at that airbase. Israel is fabricating pretexts to bomb neighbouring countries and destabilise the region,” the official asserted.
The strike marked an extraordinary act of defiance by Israel towards the United States, which is seeking to support the new Syrian government led by Ahmad Saraa, who is close to Turkey.