Israel and Turkey trade warnings over alleged military presence in Syria

Damascus, Syria. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of dragging Turkey into “dangerous adventures in Syria” after Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase earlier this week.

Israeli warning

Israel struck the airbase on Tuesday, saying Syria was close to violating a security “status quo agreed with Israel” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the site.

In a post on X on Thursday, Katz said Israel would not “allow any entity to threaten its security.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had warned Syria before the strike not to permit a Turkish presence at the base.

“Our message was very clear. Don’t. I guess they didn’t quite understand the message,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday.

Syrian response

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said he had made clear to Israel that there were no plans to establish a Turkish military base at Abu al-Duhur.

He said the airbase was being rehabilitated for use by the Syrian Air Force.

“There was no intention to establish a Turkish base there, nor to establish a permanent Turkish military presence or deploy Turkish forces at the site,” al-Shaibani said in an interview with Axios on Wednesday.

Growing tensions

The strike followed worsening security tensions and increasingly sharp rhetoric between Israel and Turkey over Syria, where both countries’ militaries are active.

Turkey rejected on Wednesday what it called Israel’s “untenable allegations” regarding its military position in Syria.

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army and is one of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s main allies, has accused Israel of seeking to destabilise Syria and undermine its new administration. It has repeatedly called for international pressure and measures to ensure Israel respects Syria’s territorial integrity.