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Abu al-Duhur strike sparks row
Israeli warplanes struck the runway of the Abu al-Duhur military airport in eastern Idlib countryside on Tuesday, and the Syrian News Channel said Israel carried out eight airstrikes on the base with damage limited to material aspects and no casualties.
“Israeli warplanes yesterday struck the runway of the Abu al-Duhur military airport”
The U.S. special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said the strike “foreshadows a direct military confrontation between Israel and Turkey,” and he told Reuters in a phone interview on Tuesday that Washington was working to establish a mechanism to avoid a clash between the three countries.
Barrack said Ankara did not receive prior notice of the strike, “thus, the aircraft were spotted heading north toward its territory,” and he added that “Fortunately, calm heads prevented the situation from deteriorating further.”
Damascus condemned the raids in the strongest terms, calling them an unwarranted aggression and a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while the Syrian government said continued Israeli assaults hinder stability efforts and threaten the region with further tension.
Netanyahu, Turkey and Syria trade claims
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and Syria reached a status quo on security matters and that Syria was about to breach it by allowing Turkish forces to deploy at an air base near Aleppo, adding that “Israel will not tolerate threats to its security.”
A Turkish official told Axios that there is no Turkish military presence at the base and that Israel fabricates pretexts to strike neighboring states and destabilize the region, while the Turkish presidency denied allegations from Netanyahu’s office and said they “aim to legitimize the illegal Israeli raids targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In parallel, a Syrian Foreign Ministry diplomat denied Israeli claims of an agreement with the Syrian government on a specific security reality, and Hussein al-Sheikh, father of Syrian President al-Assad, confirmed on his Facebook account that the ongoing Israeli aggression targets Syria’s stability and prevents its recovery.
Al-Jazeera Net reported that political and popular reactions intensified across social media platforms after the airstrike, with bloggers emphasizing that Damascus is a sovereign state with full right to conclude defensive agreements with any party it sees suitable to protect its national security.
Washington seeks de-escalation mechanism
Washington’s efforts to avoid a wider confrontation centered on a mechanism to prevent friction between Israel, Turkey, and Syria after the Abu al-Duhur airfield strike, with Tom Barrack telling Reuters that Turkey had not received any prior warning and could have “reasonably prepared a response of its own.”
“reasonably prepared a response of its own”
Barrack said the strikes reflected “a perception, whether accurate or not, that Turkey could increase its presence at this base,” and he emphasized the need for “a friction-avoidance mechanism that includes Israel, Syria, and Turkey.”
Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday as a “flagrant violation” of international law and Syrian sovereignty, while the Syrian state television reported that Israel carried out eight airstrikes on Abu Al-Duhur airbase in Idlib province early on Tuesday hitting the runway and storage facilities and causing material damage with no casualties reported.
The U.S. envoy to Syria also described the attack as an “unnecessary escalation” that did not advance regional stability and called for restraint and dialogue, as Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as an unjustified act of aggression and a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
