A diplomatic confrontation between Turkey and Israel escalated sharply this week after Israeli warplanes struck Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, triggering an exchange of accusations and veiled warnings that drew an unusually pointed rebuke from Washington.
Israel conducted eight strikes against the airbase — located roughly 70 kilometres east of the Turkish border, near the city of Aleppo — targeting its runway and storage facilities. No casualties were reported. Though the Israeli military declined to comment officially, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu effectively acknowledged the operation on Wednesday, saying Israel had sent a "clear message" that Turkey should not establish military bases in Syria. Defence Minister Israel Katz went further, posting a warning to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkish on social media, urging him not to "test Israel's determination to defend itself" and not to drag Turkey into "dangerous adventures in Syria." Netanyahu's office had earlier stated that Syria was on the verge of violating a security understanding with Israel by allowing Turkish forces to deploy at the base.
The strikes appear to have been prompted by a reported visit to the airbase by a Turkish military delegation in the days prior — an assessment backed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in London. Turkey's Defence Ministry flatly denied this, stating that no Turkish military personnel were present at Abu al-Duhur before or during the attack. Ankara accused Israel of using "indefensible claims" to justify strikes it said were aimed at undermining Syrian sovereignty. The Turkish presidency linked the operation to what it described as Netanyahu's "expansionist and destabilising policies" ahead of Israeli parliamentary elections scheduled for October. Turkey, which holds NATO's second-largest military and has emerged as a key backer of Syria's transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been training the Syrian army and supporting state reconstruction since Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in late 2024.
Syria's foreign minister, Assad al-Shaibani, told the American news website Axios that Damascus had attempted to reach a de-escalation agreement with Israel but that Israel had walked back on its commitments. He insisted Syria retained the sovereign right to cooperate militarily with any country, including Turkey, and warned Israel that it was not facing Damascus alone but also Syria's allies. Syria's transitional president al-Sharaa had stated in July that his government was seeking a security agreement with Israel; US special envoy Tom Barrack confirmed that several rounds of talks had taken place without producing a final understanding.
Washington's response was striking in its tone. Barrack called the strikes an "unnecessary escalation" that did not serve regional stability, and noted that Turkey had received no prior warning — and had tracked the Israeli aircraft heading northward toward its territory, a development he acknowledged could reasonably have triggered a military response. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Washington would pursue de-escalation. Barrack also revealed that the United States is working to establish a formal deconfliction mechanism involving Israel, Turkey and Syria to prevent misunderstandings or accidental clashes. An informal communication channel between Ankara and Tel Aviv had already existed, but its limits were exposed by this week's events. The episode underscores a broader contest for influence in a post-Assad Syria — and the risk that competing interests among regional powers could tip into direct confrontation.