By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria's Idlib province before dawn on August 18. By Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani was meeting an Israeli delegation in Jordan to discuss mechanisms aimed at preventing similar escalations.
The sequence exposed two channels operating around the same dispute. One connects Damascus and Israel under United States mediation. The other runs quietly between Israel and Türkiye to reduce the risk of military miscalculation inside Syria.
The Strike
Israeli warplanes hit runways and storage facilities at Abu al-Duhur in at least eight strikes early on August 18. The base lies roughly 45 miles from the Turkish border. Syrian officials reported material damage but no casualties.
Israel's Prime Minister's Office said Syria had been close to violating an existing security understanding by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base and that Israeli warnings had gone unanswered.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the attack the following day as a warning after earlier messages failed to produce the response Israel wanted. He said Israel would not tolerate what he described as a Turkish military presence moving southward in Syria toward Israel.
Asked what Israel had told Ankara, Netanyahu answered: "Don't." He said the warning had not been understood and Israel had then delivered the message more clearly.
Türkiye's Ministry of National Defence said no Turkish military delegation was at Abu al-Duhur before or during the strike.
The Channel Was Already Open
Contact between Damascus and Israel predated the attack.
Reuters reported on August 20, citing three people familiar with the matter, that Mossad Director Roman Gofman spoke by telephone with al-Shaibani on August 14. Türkiye's military presence in Syria and Turkish support to the Syrian armed forces were among the issues discussed.
Türkiye's Defence Ministry declined to comment to Reuters on the call, while the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond.
Al-Shaibani later told Axios that Turkish officers had visited Abu al-Duhur before the strike, but described the visit as training and an exchange of expertise. He rejected the Israeli account that the base was being prepared for a permanent Turkish deployment.
Türkiye has expanded security cooperation with the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Israel has increasingly focused on Turkish military activity in Syria, particularly where it believes deployments or equipment could affect its freedom of action.
Katz Challenges Barrack
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz sharpened the dispute in the days after the strike.
On August 20, Katz accused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of drawing Türkiye into what he called dangerous adventures in Syria.
Two days later, Katz challenged comments by United States Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy Tom Barrack, who had suggested the Abu al-Duhur attack may have been intended to provoke Ankara and questioned whether domestic Israeli political timing played a role.
Barrack also referred to Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights and the treatment of the territory as Syrian under United Nations resolutions.
Katz said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had recommended striking Abu al-Duhur several times on the basis of intelligence concerning Turkish intentions at the site. He said he and Netanyahu first authorized a direct warning to Damascus at the highest level, shared the intelligence with relevant US officials and approved the strike after Syria failed to respond.
Referring to Erdoğan, Katz said he had been "caught with his hand in the cookie jar." He called Barrack's account inaccurate and said it contradicted President Donald Trump's position on the Golan Heights.
From Airstrike to Jordan Talks
On August 23, Syrian and Israeli delegations met in Jordan under United States mediation, their first negotiations in several months.
Syria's state news agency SANA said al-Shaibani headed a delegation that included the heads of the general and military intelligence services. Two sources told AFP that he met Gofman directly.
A diplomatic source and a Syrian government source cited by AFP said the delegations discussed establishing a special operations room in Jordan under US supervision. The proposal is intended to prevent confrontations inside Syria, including incidents that could draw in Türkiye.
SANA said the talks covered mechanisms to halt Israeli strikes, arrests and targeting operations and revive negotiations over a security agreement. Türkiye-Israel tensions were also discussed, with the sides examining ways to prevent disputes between the two countries from spilling onto Syrian territory.
Damascus told the Israeli delegation that it would retain control over the rebuilding and development of its armed forces and decide which countries it chooses as security partners.
Al-Shaibani had told Reuters a day earlier that Damascus did not trust Israel and had cut contact after the Abu al-Duhur strike. He said the two governments had reached agreement on paper earlier in the year on much of a possible security arrangement, including zones in southern Syria and a buffer area containing only United Nations forces.
Syria also repeated its position on the Golan Heights during the Jordan talks and called on Israel to withdraw to the lines held before December 8, 2024.
A Quieter Line to Ankara
A second channel surfaced alongside the Jordan negotiations.
A senior Israeli security official told public broadcaster KAN on Sunday that closed channels are being used directly with Türkiye to prevent military confrontation in Syria.
The unnamed official said Israel does not want Türkiye to become an enemy and that messages are exchanged to reduce the risk of miscalculation over military activity. The official also said Israel acts when those communications fail to produce results.
That account closely resembles Netanyahu's description of the sequence before Abu al-Duhur: private warnings first, military action afterward.
The same day therefore brought two separate tracks into public view. Washington was mediating between Syria and Israel in Jordan, while Israeli and Turkish officials were using a closed channel to manage risks created by their military activity and competing security interests in Syria.
Neither track has produced a publicly announced mechanism. Both are now dealing with the consequences of the Abu al-Duhur strike, which Israel describes as a warning over Turkish military activity and which Ankara and Damascus say was based on claims that overstated what Türkiye was doing at the base.
Sources: SANA, Reuters, AFP, Axios, KAN, Ynetnews, Times of Israel, JNS, Anadolu Agency, Türkiye Ministry of National Defence, Bosphorus News review and reporting.