Strike on Syrian airbase signals Israel’s growing unease with Turkey’s regional ambitions
Times of Israel · LC · trust 58/100
For a decade, Turkey has maintained a military presence in northern Syria, with Ankara framing the occupation as necessary to protect its border from the Islamic State and Kurdish militants it considers linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Israel’s strikes last week on a military airport in northwestern Syria, however, signaled that Jerusalem increasingly sees Turkey’s military presence not simply as a feature of the Syrian conflict, but as a potential threat to Israel itself.
In the early hours of August 18, Israel carried out a series of eight airstrikes on the runway of the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib, causing damage but no casualties, according to Syria.
“Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in an English-language statement explaining the strikes.
Damascus swiftly condemned the attack, calling it an “unjustified act of aggression.” Ankara did as well, while denying plans to deploy military assets there.
The fallout quickly reached Washington, where US envoy Tom Barrack said the strikes “constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”
The ambassador cast doubt on Israel’s claim that Turkey was moving military assets into Syria’s northwestern Abu al-Duhur military airport, saying US intel did not indicate such activity.
Israel, for its part, alleged that Syria had approved the shipment of unspecified military equipment from Turkey to the airbase, even after Mossad chief Roman Gofman reportedly warned Syrian Foreign Minister Asad Hassan al-Sheibani against such a move.
A senior military source told Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s sister Hebrew website, that the shipment consisted of several drones, while the Kan public broadcaster reported that it was a radar system.
Whatever the shipment contained, the Israeli decision to use force raised a broader question: Why had this particular Turkish deployment in northern Syria suddenly become a red line for Jerusalem?
The Turkish Armed Forces have occupied areas of northern Syria since August 2016, when they launched Operation Euphrates Shield. In the years that followed, Turkey played an active role in the Syrian civil war, supporting Syrian opposition forces against now-ousted president Bashar al-Assad and backing the Syrian National Army.
Turkey’s unwavering support for Syrian dissidents and its decision to welcome Syrian refugees during the civil war created a close relationship between the two nations that has only gained greater prominence as Syria seeks to rebuild and establish itself as a stable, unified state after nearly 14 years of internal conflict.
The current Syrian government’s appreciation for Turkey, coupled with Ankara’s willingness to aid Damascus in its military buildup, leaves “room for Turkey to operate” within Syria, according to Gallia Lindenstrauss, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies.
Still, she emphasized that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is “not a puppet of Turkey,” and has sought to balance Ankara’s influence against strong support from other powers, such as the US and Saudi Arabia.
Israel’s attack was widely seen as a preventive move — an attempt to stop Turkey from establishing a new military foothold at Abu al-Duhur before personnel and equipment were in place.
Lindenstrauss said that Jerusalem’s message was “clear,” wanting to signal that “Turkey will not deploy in Syria.”
But whether the prospective deployment justified military action is far more contested.
Attacking the base opened the prospect of armed conflict with a NATO member country that enjoys close ties with the White House and that continues to maintain diplomatic ties with Israel, even if heavily frayed. And the strike added a fresh crimp to a relationship with Syria that the US has been trying to smooth out in hopes of forging a security deal and possibly more between Damascus and Jerusalem.
Elizabeth Tsurkov, a senior non-resident fellow at the New Lines Institute, a Washington DC-based think-tank, told The Times of Israel that while there “was definitely a context” for Israel’s attack, she questioned the necessity of going “as far as striking to prevent” the Turkish shipment.
Others have questioned not only the necessity of the strike, but the motivations behind its timing.
“One theory is they were just baiting Turkey, and it’s a very aggressive, but maybe well-received, pre-election concept,” Barrack said in an interview days after Israel’s attack, implying that conflict between Israel and Turkey would serve Netanyahu ahead of the elections scheduled for October 27.
“I see political reasons behind it,” Tsurkov said, echoing Barrack’s remarks. “It’s very clear it could have been avoided.”
Tsurkov speculated that the government is purposefully exaggerating the Turkish threat in Syria to gain political points by portraying itself as confronting the issue with an iron fist.
“We are two months away from an election. Netanyahu is failing in the polls, and he is willing to do what it takes,” she said. Recent polling shows Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party trailing slightly behind main political rival Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party.
בתמונות מיקומים של בסיסים צבאיים של תורכיה בצפון סוריה, חלקם שקיימים שם מאז 2017. ובמפה הגדולה, לצד מיקומי הבסיסים, סימנתי בנקודה שחורה את בסיס אבו א-ט'הור שאותו הפציצה ישראל. התמונות מלפני נפילתו של אסד, ומאז עשרות מהבסיסים התורכיים פורקו בשל סיום העימותים עם משטר אסד והכורדים.… pic.twitter.com/pCwKYjf2CW
— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@LizHurra) August 20, 2026
Tsurkov took to X to voice her criticism of Israel’s strikes, posting satellite images of Turkish bases in northern Syria, “some of which have existed there since 2017.” “The images are from before the fall of Assad, and since then, dozens of the Turkish bases have been dismantled due…
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