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Mossad call before strike
On August 14, the head of Israel’s Mossad, Romen Goufman, spoke by phone with Syrian Foreign Minister Asad Al-Shaibani in Damascus, discussing the Turkish military presence in Syria just days before Israel carried out an airstrike targeting the Syrian Abu al-Duhur airbase.
“Romen Goufman, spoke by phone with Syrian Foreign Minister Asad Al-Shaibani on August 14”
The call was described by three informed sources as among the highest levels of contact known so far between Israel and the Damascus-led Syrian administration under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, while the office of the Israeli prime minister that handles Mossad inquiries did not comment and there was no comment from a spokesman for al-Shaibani either.
In the same reporting, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the attack that Damascus was moving toward allowing Turkish forces to deploy at the base, and Turkey rejected the allegations.
The Reuters account also tied the timing to escalation management, noting that Tom Barak, the American ambassador to Turkey and the special envoy to Syria and Iraq, described the attacks as an “unnecessary escalation” that does not serve regional stability and said Washington was working to establish a mechanism to prevent escalation between Israel, Turkey, and Syria.
Turkey denies delegation
After Israel bombed the Abu al-Duhur base in northwest Syria, Turkey’s Defense Ministry official told reporters that “there was no Turkish military delegation at Abu Ez-Zuhur airbase before or during the attack carried out by Israel against this base in Syria.”
A Turkish defense ministry spokesperson, Zaki Akturk, said the strikes against Abu al-Duhur military airport target stability, security, unity, and the integrity of Syria, while Ankara warned it would continue forcefully to protect Syria’s integrity and sovereignty.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, accused Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of engaging in “dangerous adventures in Syria,” and said Israel “will not allow any entity to threaten its security.”
In parallel, Yair Golan, head of the Democrats, called the attack in Syria “provocative and dangerous,” saying it “brings us closer to a confrontation with Turkey and deepens the rift with our allies, most notably the United States,” according to the 20 Minutes account.
No Turkish base plans
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Axios that Syria has “no plans to establish a Turkish military presence at the Abu al-Duhur airbase attacked by Israel earlier this week,” while he said Turkish military officials had visited the site as part of training and broader military cooperation and that the facility was largely empty.
““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,””
The same reporting said Israel carried out eight air strikes on the runway and storage facilities at the Abu al-Duhur base near Aleppo, with no casualties reported, and that Foreign Minister al-Shaibani said Israel had no legitimate justification for attacking the facility.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had passed a “message” to Turkiye, warning “Our message was very clear. Don’t. I guess they didn’t quite understand the message,” while Defense Minister Israel Katz said Erdogan was “dragging Turkiye into dangerous adventures in Syria.”
The stakes described in the sources centered on whether Turkish forces would be allowed to deploy at the base, with the Reuters-linked reporting saying Netanyahu warned such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security and with the U.S. special envoy Tom Barak saying Washington was working on a mechanism to prevent escalation and enable information exchange and dialogue among Israel, Syria, and Turkey.