By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Israeli airstrikes hit the Abu al-Duhur airbase in eastern Idlib early Tuesday, a day after a Turkish military delegation reportedly inspected the site. Ankara condemned the attack through three separate official channels, while the US envoy managing the fallout described a closer call than any of them mentioned.
Eight airstrikes hit the base, Syrian state media said, damaging the runway and storage facilities. Abu al-Duhur lies about 70 kilometers from the Turkish border and hosts what remains of Syria's post-war air fleet. Syrian state media reported no casualties. The Israeli military declined to comment on the strikes.
Tom Barrack, the US special envoy for Syria and ambassador to Türkiye, told Reuters that Türkiye had not been warned before the attack and, having observed the aircraft heading north toward its territory, could reasonably have prepared its own response. "Thankfully, calm heads were able to prevent the situation from deteriorating further," he said. Barrack also questioned Israel's own rationale for the strike, saying it reflected a perception, "whether accurate or misplaced," that Türkiye might soon increase its presence at the base.
Barrack said Washington is now working to build a deconfliction mechanism among Israel, Türkiye and Syria. The effort extends a bilateral channel Türkiye and Israel began setting up in April 2025, when Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Ankara needed a mechanism with Israel similar to those it maintains with the US and Russia for deconflicting operations over Syria. Türkiye condemned Tuesday's strikes but, per Reuters, said nothing publicly about the mechanism Barrack described.
Israel's Prime Minister's Office offered its own account hours after the strike, saying on X that Israel and Syria had an understanding on security matters that Damascus was on the verge of breaching by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase, and that Israel had warned Syria against it beforehand. The statement did not name Abu al-Duhur specifically.
Ankara answered through three official voices rather than one. Türkiye's Foreign Ministry said Israel recklessly continues attacks that violate Syria's territorial integrity and unity, and called on the international community to hold Israel accountable. Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran called the attack part of a reckless policy of aggression that threatens regional peace and stability, and reaffirmed Turkish support for Syria's sovereignty. AK Party spokesman Ömer Çelik went further, calling the Netanyahu government a "genocide network" that turns on Erdoğan whenever it is cornered domestically, and said it would eventually face justice, language considerably sharper than either the ministry's or Duran's statements.
The pattern echoes March 2025, when Israeli jets struck the T4 airbase in Homs province hours before a Turkish delegation was due to inspect it over concerns Ankara might station air defenses and drones there. That strike is what pushed Türkiye and Israel toward their first deconfliction arrangement. Abu al-Duhur suggests the arrangement did not cover every contingency, and this time Syria is being added to it directly.
Sources: Reuters, Türkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Presidency's Directorate of Communications, AK Party, The Jerusalem Post, Israel Hayom, i24NEWS, Bosphorus News review and reporting.