Israel warns Turkiye against military moves in Syria
Shafaq News- Damascus
Israel's Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Ankara should not test Israel's resolve to defend itself, following Israeli airstrikes this week on a Syrian airbase that Israel said Turkiye was preparing to use.
In a post on X, Katz said Turkiye was being drawn into “dangerous ventures” in Syria and Israel would not permit any party to threaten its security. He added that Erdogan would be better served by continuing what he called detached and unrealistic rhetoric against Israel in Turkiye's parliament than by testing Israel's determination to defend itself.
.@RTErdogan, Türkiye’yi Suriye’de tehlikeli maceralara sürüklüyor.İsrail, hiçbir aktörün güvenliğini tehdit etmesine izin vermeyecektir.Erdoğan’ın, İsrail’e karşı Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi’nde gerçeklikten kopuk, hayal ürünü söylemlerini sürdürmesi; İsrail’in kendini…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) August 20, 2026
Israeli aircraft struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, early Tuesday, hitting the runway and storage areas. PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Damascus had been on the verge of allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base and had ignored repeated Israeli warnings that such a deployment would threaten Israel's security.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said there had been no intention to establish a Turkish base, a permanent Turkish military presence, or a deployment of Turkish forces at the site, noting that the work at the airbase was limited to rehabilitating facilities damaged during the war for use by the Syrian Air Force, and the base was largely empty when it was struck.
Tom Barrack, the US special envoy for Syria and ambassador to Turkiye, called the strikes an unnecessary escalation that did not advance regional stability.
