Syria has rejected Israel’s justification for airstrikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib province, with the foreign minister saying there was no Turkish military buildup at the site and that Israel had no legitimate grounds for the attack, deepening a rift between three U.S. partners in the region.
Israeli aircraft struck the base eight times on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were meant to prevent Turkey from deploying troops there, arguing that such a deployment would have violated an understood security status quo between Israel and Syria and that Damascus had ignored repeated Israeli warnings against allowing it. In a video posted online Wednesday, Netanyahu said Israel had told Syria plainly not to permit the deployment.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani disputed that account, saying work under way at the airbase was limited to repairing runways and facilities damaged during Syria’s civil war, for use by the Syrian air force, and that no Turkish military presence had been established or planned there. He said the base remained largely empty and had not become operational at the time of the strike, and that linking the attack to a Turkish deployment was not supported by conditions on the ground.
Turkey also rejected Israel’s characterization. The Turkish presidency called the allegations baseless and accused Israel of trying to legitimize what it described as unlawful strikes on Syrian territory. Turkey’s defense ministry said no Turkish forces were present at the base before or during the attack and called on Israel to halt further strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group, said the strikes followed a visit by a Turkish technical delegation working to help restore the airbase, which had been out of service for years. Syrian officials said the delegation had left the site roughly two days before the strike.
Syria formally protested the attack to the United Nations Secretary-General and Security Council. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz separately warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against what he called dangerous involvement in Syria, saying Israel would not allow any entity to threaten its security.
U.S. envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said Washington had confirmed Israel carried out the strikes and described them as an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability. Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia also condemned the attack.
Tensions between Israel and Turkey over influence in Syria have grown since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024, with Ankara emerging as a key military and reconstruction partner to Damascus under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, while Israel has carried out a series of strikes on Syrian military sites it says could otherwise be used to threaten its security.
