Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur military airport in north-western Syria have opened a new chapter of tension between Israel and Türkiye, as Tel Aviv increasingly argues that any expanding Turkish presence in Syria intersects with its security calculations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel had made its position on the Turkish military presence in Syria clear, stressing that it “will not tolerate a Turkish military presence in Syria that poses a threat to Israel”.
As Washington moved to contain the escalation, US President Donald Trump declined to discuss the details of the latest Israeli attack on Syria, although he told Israel’s Channel 12 that he was aware of the details.
The same channel quoted a US official as saying that Tel Aviv had informed Washington that Türkiye intended to deploy a military system at the targeted Abu al-Duhur airport, adding that Washington considered the Israeli intelligence concerning the airport to be accurate.
The US official said Israel had avoided a proposal to establish a joint operations room with Syria to prevent military friction.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Channel 13 quoted an Israeli military source as saying: “The last thing we need is an open war with Türkiye. We already have enough fronts burning.”
US envoy to Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack had previously warned that continued military incidents could lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Türkiye.
Before dawn on Tuesday, Israel carried out eight strikes on Abu al-Duhur airport, targeting its runway, according to Syrian state media.
Israel says the strike came after Syria moved closer to allowing Turkish forces to deploy at the base, something Tel Aviv regarded as a threat to its security.
Israeli Escalation
The significance of the strike extends beyond the military nature of the target itself.
The airport is located in the eastern countryside of Idlib, around 80 kilometres from the Turkish border. Its location gives the attack a different significance because it lies closer to areas of Turkish influence in northern Syria than most of the sites Israel has targeted in central Syria during the recent period.
The attack also comes as Ankara works to support the rebuilding of Syrian state institutions and military capabilities.
Two Main Factors
Military and strategic expert Brigadier General Hassan Jouni said the targeting of Abu al-Duhur was linked to two main factors.
The first is its proximity to the Turkish border. The second is the Turkish dimension, particularly following reports that a Turkish military delegation had visited the airport and that it could be brought back into operation.
Jouni said the airport has been out of service since 2012 and therefore currently has little direct operational value.
However, the possibility of rehabilitating it and converting it into an active air facility gives it a different level of importance, particularly if this is connected to the development of Syrian military capabilities with Turkish support.
He said Israel’s message went beyond the airport itself and reflected a rising level of indirect confrontation with Türkiye inside Syria, where the Turkish military presence and the rebuilding of the Syrian army have become part of a new security equation involving the calculations of both sides.
The strike does not come in isolation from Israel’s long record of targeting Syrian military facilities.
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government, Israel has intensified attacks against Syrian air, naval and other military capabilities, under its declared objective of preventing what it claims are new threats from emerging along its borders.
Jouni placed these operations within a broader shift in Israeli security doctrine.
He said that following the 7 October 2023 attack, Israel had moved from the concept of deterrence towards what he described as a strategy of “prevention”, meaning preventing the emergence of a military force that could become a future source of threat.
Turkish Influence
Ankara says Israel is using security pretexts to justify violating Syrian sovereignty.
The Turkish presidency described Israeli allegations regarding a Turkish deployment as “false claims”, saying they were intended to justify airstrikes on Syrian territory.
It stressed that Türkiye would continue cooperating with the Syrian government to consolidate security and stability.
Israel, meanwhile, said Damascus had been close to violating what Netanyahu’s office described as the agreed “status quo” on security matters by allowing Turkish forces to deploy at the base.
It said it had previously warned that such a deployment would represent a threat to its security.
The risk of escalation appears to have prompted Washington to act quickly.
Barrack described the Israeli strikes on Abu al-Duhur as “an unnecessary escalation” and said the United States was working to establish a mechanism to prevent friction between Israel, Türkiye and Syria, while stressing that restraint and dialogue remained the most effective path.
Speaking to Reuters, he added: “Fortunately, cooler heads were able to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.”
Barrack’s comments carry particular significance because they reflect a shift in US concern from containing an isolated incident inside Syria towards fears of a confrontation between two major regional powers.
The direct confrontation Barrack warned about does not appear inevitable in the foreseeable future, but it has become a more serious possibility as both sides move from exchanging political messages to testing military positions inside Syria.
Prospect of Direct Confrontation
On Wednesday, Axios quoted US and Israeli officials as saying that Israel had informed the Trump administration that the purpose of its latest attack on the Syrian airbase was to prevent any strengthening of the Turkish military presence in the area.
The website also reported that Israel had informed White House officials in advance about the attack on the recently rebuilt military airport.
The sources said Israel’s elections, scheduled for October, may have been one factor behind the strike.
Political writer and researcher Ahmed Mazhar Saadou said the raid represented a direct warning to Turkish influence in northern Syria and could also have been a message to the Syrian government over any attempt to rehabilitate airports and rebuild military capabilities.
He said the strike came after Syrian moves to rebuild its capabilities, including its air force and air defence systems, as well as the first Syrian air force sorties in some time, developments that may have raised Israeli concerns.
Muhannad Mustafa, an academic and expert on Israeli affairs, said Israel was gradually testing Türkiye’s reaction to its military operations inside Syria.
He noted that Türkiye’s military and economic strength, along with its regional influence, makes Israel cautious in dealing with Ankara.
Speaking to the programme Beyond the News, Mustafa said the United States remained the most important factor limiting the expansion of Israeli operations in Syria.
However, he argued that Washington had been unable to force Israel to withdraw from southern Syria or from the security buffer zone.
He said Washington’s inability to impose a withdrawal or halt escalation was also evident in Lebanon and Gaza, giving Israel room to continue its military operations and then rearrange its relations with the US administration.
