The Media Line: Syria, Turkey Condemn Israeli Airbase Strike; Netanyahu Says Damascus Was Warned Over Turkish Troops  

Syria, Turkey Condemn Israeli Airbase Strike; Netanyahu Says Damascus Was Warned Over Turkish Troops  

By The Media Line Staff  

Syria and Turkey condemned Tuesday’s airstrike on the Abu al-Duhur Airbase, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the action by saying Syria had ignored repeated warnings against allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the site.  

Syria protested the strikes in letters to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council.  

Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that four runways and other infrastructure at the airfield were damaged. The newspaper described the attack as the third of its kind, following two earlier strikes on military sites in central Syria that Turkey had sought to rehabilitate.  

The strike also came days after two Syrian aircraft conducted training flights in northern Syria for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime, Al-Akhbar reported. Ankara was participating in rehabilitation work at the airfield at the time.  

Sources on the ground told the newspaper that two Israeli aircraft entered Syrian airspace from the direction of Lebanon.  

Netanyahu’s office said Israel had acted after Damascus allowed Turkish troops to deploy despite previous warnings.  

“Israel and Syria had agreed on a security status quo, which Syria nearly violated by allowing Turkish soldiers to deploy at an air base near Aleppo,” Netanyahu’s office said in an English-language statement.  

He added that “Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security and would welcome a return to the status quo.”  

Turkey denied that it was preparing to station forces in Syria and rejected the Israeli account a day after the airbase was struck.  

“The baseless claims made by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office are intended to legitimize Israel’s illegal airstrikes, which violate Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office said.