Israel Hits Air Base in Syria: Warning to Turkey
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Israel hit the Abu Duhur airbase in Syria in a warning to the power brokers in Damascus and to the political elites in Turkey. Accordingly, the administration of President Donald Trump in America is displeased by the actions of Israel. However, for Israel, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is signaling that Israel’s national interests must ultimately come first – irrespective of external pressure from America.
Israel is already smarting after coming under American pressure concerning Hezbollah in Lebanon and the remnants of Hamas in Gaza. Naturally, while Israel has sought to placate the Trump administration, airstrikes and other military options against Hezbollah and Hamas continue, albeit at a lower intensity. For Jerusalem, the fundamental threats posed by these organizations have not simply disappeared because Washington desires a broader diplomatic settlement.
At the same time, Israel is increasingly concerned about the expanding regional footprint of NATO member Turkey. During the height of the Syrian war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey supported and maintained relationships with various armed opposition groups, including factions with Islamist orientations. Also, the Turkish footprint continues unabated in northern Cyprus, parts of northern Syria, and northern Iraq, where Turkish military operations against Kurdish militants remain a longstanding source of tension.
Therefore, given the increasingly hostile approach of Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan toward Israel — including extremely harsh rhetoric — it is obvious why Jerusalem seeks to prevent Ankara from exploiting regional vacuums in ways that could ultimately threaten Israeli national security.
According to Syrian sources, a Turkish delegation had visited the same airbase only one day before Israel began its airstrikes. This timing highlights the determination of Israel to prevent Turkey from establishing a deeper military footprint in Syria. Ankara is already extending its strategic influence from Libya to Syria, while maintaining a substantial military presence in northern Cyprus and conducting operations in northern Iraq. From Israel’s perspective, the possibility of Turkey acquiring additional military infrastructure in Syria is therefore hardly a peripheral concern.
Netanyahu said: “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.”
The office of Netanyahu stated that Israel had “repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security.”
Netanyahu’s office continued, “Syria chose to ignore these warnings.” However, Israel “will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo.”
These statements reveal the central geopolitical calculation in Jerusalem. Israel does not necessarily seek another major confrontation with Syria or Turkey. Rather, it wants to establish clear red lines before a new strategic reality becomes entrenched.
Israel — similar to Denmark concerning Greenland and the friendly nation of Oman — knows full well the unpredictable and sometimes chaotic nature of the current American administration under Trump. Indeed, South Korea has also found itself confronting significant disagreements with the Trump administration. For America’s allies, the lesson is increasingly apparent: the strategic umbrella of Washington remains immensely valuable, but American foreign policy can shift rapidly according to the priorities of the White House.
The Times of Israel reports: “Syria’s state-run Ekhbariya television, citing a military source, said on Tuesday that Israel carried out eight airstrikes on the base’s runway and storage facilities. A separate military source and a civilian who lives near the base said there were no casualties.”
For Israel, unlike America, the threats posed by Hamas and Hezbollah cannot simply be set aside in pursuit of a broader diplomatic settlement with Iran. Unless Hezbollah’s ability to operate as a powerful state-within-a-state in Lebanon is substantially dismantled, it is difficult to envisage strong Israeli support for any long-term agreement between Washington and Tehran that fails to address Iran’s regional military network.
Likewise, Israel understands the dangers of Turkey under the leadership of Erdoğan.
For Jerusalem, the concern is not simply Turkish rhetoric. It is the combination of military capability, regional ambition and strategic opportunity. If the vacuum in post-Assad Syria permits Turkey to establish a durable military infrastructure, Israel could find itself confronting a new and powerful actor on its northern frontier.
Naturally, Syria and Turkey have denounced the Israeli airstrikes. Other nations in the Gulf region have also condemned the action. This comes at a time of heightened tensions throughout the Middle East—from military tensions involving America and Iran to continuing instability in Yemen, alongside the deep hostility between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who receive substantial Iranian support.
Any Turkish-Israeli confrontation in Syria could potentially draw Washington into another diplomatic crisis involving two important American partners.
Overall, the new power brokers in Damascus emerged from the Sunni Islamist-led opposition that fought against the Assad regime. Accordingly, after brutal sectarian massacres in Syria in recent years aimed at the Alawites and the Druze (thousands were killed by Sunni Muslims in major pogroms) – and amid continuing concerns about attacks against Christians and other minorities — Israel is naturally fearful of what could emerge from the competing power structures now developing inside Syria.
This does not mean that every Syrian Islamist faction is controlled by Turkey, nor that Ankara’s entire Syrian policy can be reduced to its earlier relationships with armed opposition groups. But Turkey’s historical connections, military presence and expanding influence inevitably make Jerusalem suspicious of Ankara’s long-term intentions.
Herein lies the wider geopolitical danger.
Political elites in Washington may believe that the post-Assad period offers an opportunity to stabilize Syria and integrate Turkey into a broader diplomatic framework. Israel, however, is looking at the situation from a very different vantage point. Jerusalem remembers the consequences of strategic vacuums being filled by hostile or potentially hostile forces.
Turkey’s disputes with Cyprus, its military operations against Kurdish militants, and its interventions or military relationships in Libya and Syria are longstanding and increasingly interconnected elements of Ankara’s regional strategy.
For Israel, therefore, the question is not simply what Turkey is doing today. It is what Turkey could be capable of doing tomorrow.
The Abu Duhur airbase consequently represents something considerably larger than a military target. It has become a warning about the future balance of power in Syria.
Israel is effectively telling Damascus that it will not tolerate military arrangements that alter the security equation—and telling Ankara that the post-Assad vacuum is not an open invitation to establish a new strategic sphere of influence on Israel’s northern doorstep.
Israel can listen to Washington. It can negotiate with its allies. It can accept diplomatic pressure. But it will not surrender the final judgment over what it believes constitutes a threat to the security of the State of Israel.
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