Netanyahu: Israel’s position on Turkish role in Syria ‘better understood’ after strikes

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel would not tolerate Turkish military entrenchment in Syria that moved south, following strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military base near Aleppo.

“We will not tolerate a Turkish military entrenchment that moves south because it threatens us,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to X. He said Israel had learned of plans for Turkey to establish itself “on the southern side of the line close to Aleppo” and had sent a message to Ankara: “don’t.”

Netanyahu said the message had been delivered but “apparently they didn’t hear it,” adding, “We made sure it was better understood.”

The Prime Minister’s Office said on Tuesday that Syria had been on the verge of violating the security status quo by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of drawing Turkey into “dangerous adventures” in Syria.

“Israel will not allow any entity to threaten its security,” Katz wrote on X.

“It is preferable for Erdoğan to continue delivering empty, delusional speeches against Israel in the Turkish parliament rather than testing Israel’s resolve to defend itself,” he continued.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said during a tour of the Syrian front on Wednesday that Israel would not allow “hostile forces” to establish themselves along its borders.

“We are operating in a multi-front reality, in which the challenges are constantly changing and developing—the Syrian arena is one of them,” said Zamir.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani acknowledged that Turkish officers had visited the Abu al-Duhur airbase days before Israel struck it, but said the visit was part of military cooperation involving training and an exchange of expertise, rather than a Turkish military buildup, Axios reported on Wednesday.

Al-Shaibani said Syria was rebuilding its military and civilian institutions and had similar cooperation programs with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Russia.

Syria’s foreign ministry on Tuesday blamed Israel for carrying out the attack, calling it “a violation of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The statement described the strikes as “an unjustified act of aggression” and a “dangerous escalation” threatening the region’s security and stability, the state’s official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Syria called on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to take a firm stance against any Israeli violations of Syrian sovereignty.

United States Ambassador to Turkey and Special Presidential Envoy to Iraq and Syria Tom Barrack said that “we are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”

Barrack wrote in a post to X that Syria’s al-Sharaa government had signaled a preference for deescalation with Israel, adding that Washington would continue facilitating discussions between the sides. He urged “restraint and engagement” and called on all parties to prioritize dialogue over additional military encounters.

“Highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance, at the most senior levels of the various agencies and bodies,” a senior Israeli official told Fox News on Tuesday. “Al-Sharaa understands that he cannot operate like the previous Syrian regime, which maintained proxy forces. It’s possible that he didn’t understand what was going on, or didn’t know.”

The official couldn’t offer more details, “due to the highly classified nature of the intelligence.”