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The Turkish government publicly denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly pursuing “expansionist and destabilizing policies” after Israel launched airstrikes on a Syrian airbase this week.
Netanyahu’s office took responsibility for the Tuesday morning strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase the next day, saying Syria was on the verge of breaching a security agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy from the base, which is near Aleppo.
“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security,” Netanyahu’s office said Tuesday night. “Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo.”
On Wednesday, Turkey called these allegations from Israel “untenable,” arguing that they are “intended to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
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“The imputations voiced stem from Netanyahu’s intent to pursue expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region ahead of the elections in Israel,” Turkey’s government said in a social media post.
“Türkiye, like the vast majority of the international community, stands for the consolidation of lasting peace in our region. The sole path to this objective lies in Netanyahu’s abandonment of his aggressive and coercive policies and in his respect for international law,” it continued.
“Türkiye will resolutely continue to cooperate with the Syrian Government on a legitimate basis for the establishment of peace, stability, and prosperity in Syria, and will never allow the destabilization of Syria,” the statement concluded.
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The strike on the Syrian airbase, which caused damage but no casualties, also drew criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, despite a senior Israeli official telling Fox News that “highly sensitive intelligence was shared with the United States in advance” of the attack.
“We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability,” Barrack said in an X post.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has not “adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces” and has “repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel,” Barrack added.
Barrack, who is also the U.S. special envoy for Syria, told Reuters he is working to establish a deconfliction mechanism to ease tensions between Israel, Turkey and Syria.
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Al-Sharaa, formerly the head of al-Qaeda’s affiliate group in Syria, became the country’s new leader in January 2025 after he led rebel forces that ousted Bashar al-Assad from power.
President Donald Trump has expressed strong support for al-Sharaa’s government, including the lifting of broad economic sanctions on Syria in late June.
But Turkey, which has been training Syria’s soldiers to rebuild the country’s armed forces, has routinely accused Israel of trying to destabilize the region.
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Since al-Assad was deposed in December 2024, Israel has repeatedly struck targets within Syria seeking to prevent the new government from building up its military capabilities near the border.
Netanyahu reiterated in July that he wants the region south of Damascus to remain demilitarized, while also professing a desire to protect the Druze population, an ethnoreligious minority that lives in Syria.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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