Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has justified Israeli airstrikes that hit Syria on Tuesday by claiming the Syrian government was about to allow the deployment of Turkish troops to an air base near Aleppo, as Israel has been taking an increasingly hostile position toward Turkey.
At least eight Israeli airstrikes hit the Abu al-Duhur military air base in Syria’s northwest Idlib province, which is far from Israel’s border. According to Syrian media, the attack didn’t cause casualties.
“Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo,” the statement added.
A Turkish official speaking to Axios reporter Barak Ravid said that Israel was creating pretexts to justify the attack. “There was no Turkish presence at the airbase. Israel is inventing pretexts to bomb neighboring countries and destabilize the region,” the Turkish official said.
The Israeli airstrikes prompted rare US criticism. “We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as an envoy to Syria, wrote on X.
Barrack also noted that the government of Syria, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander whom the US, Israel, and Turkey all helped install in power, has been highly deferential toward Israel. “The Al-Sharaa government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces. It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel,” he said.
While Netanyahu celebrated and took credit for the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, he also ordered Israeli forces to invade southwestern Syria beyond the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli troops now occupy parts of the Quneitra and Daraa Governorates, where they regularly carry out raids in villages.
