IRIA News

6 minute read

Syria has rejected Israel’s justification for striking the Abu Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria, saying there were no plans to establish a Turkish military base or permanent Turkish military presence at the facility.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shaibani said the site was being rehabilitated for use by the Syrian Air Force and that Turkish military officers had visited as part of broader training and military cooperation.

Israeli forces struck the Abu Duhur airbase early Tuesday, damaging runways and hangars but causing no casualties.

Israel said the operation was intended to prevent a Turkish military buildup at the site, while Syrian officials said the facility remained largely empty and was not yet operational.

Syria Disputes Israeli Justification

Al Shaibani said Syria had made clear to Israel that there was no intention to establish a Turkish base at Abu Duhur. “There was no intention to establish a Turkish base there, nor to establish a permanent Turkish military presence or deploy Turkish forces at the site,” he said.

According to the Syrian foreign minister, rehabilitation work at the base was focused on restoring facilities damaged during the war for eventual use by the Syrian Air Force. He said there was no Turkish military buildup that could justify Israel’s interpretation of the activity.

“The base was, in fact, largely empty,” Al-Shaibani said, adding that it had not been fully rehabilitated or made operational when Israel carried out the strikes.

He acknowledged that Turkish military officers had visited the facility several days before the attack. Still, he described the visit as part of ongoing military cooperation involving training and an exchange of expertise.

Syria is working to rebuild its military and civilian institutions and has cooperation and training programs with several countries, including Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Russia, Al-Shaibani said. He stressed that Syria, as a sovereign state, has the right to establish military cooperation with other countries.

Israel Cites Turkish Military Presence

Israel has presented a different account of the activity at Abu Duhur. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had warned Damascus not to permit a Turkish presence at the base before the attack.

Israel also told the Trump administration that the strikes were intended to prevent a Turkish military buildup, according to U.S. and Israeli officials cited in the source material. “Our message was very clear: Don’t. I guess they didn’t quite understand the message,” Netanyahu said.

The Israeli strikes involved at least eight bombs hitting runways and hangars at the facility, which is located about 45 miles from the Turkish border. The attack damaged recently rebuilt runways, but no casualties were reported.

The strikes came shortly after a Turkish delegation visited the base. Syrian officials said the delegation had arrived Monday to review rehabilitation work underway at the facility, marking the first confirmation of a Turkish presence at Abu Duhur.

Turkish officials have not publicly confirmed the reported presence of a military delegation at the base. Ankara’s communications directorate, however, condemned the Israeli attack and accused Netanyahu of making allegations intended to justify what it described as unlawful strikes against Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Growing Turkish-Syrian Military Cooperation

The dispute comes as Ankara and Damascus expand military cooperation following the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Turkiye has supported efforts to rebuild Syria’s armed forces by training Syrian personnel at Turkish military schools and bases and providing equipment and logistical support. The two countries also signed an agreement last year formalizing their military cooperation, while Syrian troops have participated in military exercises in Turkiye.

The Abu Duhur facility occupies a strategically important position near the borders of Idlib, Aleppo and Hama provinces. Under Assad, MiG-23 and MiG-21 fighter jets and L-39 aircraft operated from the base.

Ankara has repeatedly maintained that Syria’s security is closely linked to its own. The expansion of Turkish-Syrian military ties has therefore become an important factor in the wider competition over Syria’s post-Assad security architecture.

Israel, meanwhile, remains deeply suspicious of Syria’s new authorities in Damascus. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of strikes against Syrian military assets since Assad’s ouster in December 2024 and have maintained control over a US-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria.

The latest strike adds another point of tension between Israel and Turkiye, whose relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years. The two countries were once close security partners, but disagreements over Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians and Turkiye’s support for Hamas have contributed to a prolonged deterioration in relations.

Syria Seeks Negotiations with Israel

Despite the latest Israeli strike, Syria says it remains open to negotiations with Israel aimed at reducing tensions along their border.

Al-Shaibani said Syria and Israel had conducted a year of U.S.-mediated negotiations and had made significant progress toward a security agreement. According to his account, the two sides reached a formula on paper, but Israel later withdrew from its commitments, and the agreement was never implemented.

Chief of Staff Zamir toured southern Syria a day after the strike on Syrian Airbase: "We will not allow hostile forces to entrench along our borders." pic.twitter.com/tD9FpyGngU

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 19, 2026

The Syrian foreign minister said any future arrangement would need to address the security concerns of both countries while respecting Syrian sovereignty.

“De-escalation cannot be the responsibility of one side alone,” Al-Shaibani said, arguing that continued Israeli military operations would increase instability rather than provide long-term security.

He said Syria does not rule out renewed negotiations and considers political and security arrangements the most sustainable route toward stability.

The latest confrontation therefore leaves Syria facing two competing pressures: rebuilding its military institutions through expanded foreign cooperation while trying to prevent that cooperation from becoming a trigger for further Israeli military action.

The incident has added another complication for Turkiye to its expanding role in Syria. Ankara has not indicated that it intends to respond militarily to the Israeli strikes, but the attack underscores the increasingly sensitive overlap between Turkish security interests, Syria’s efforts to rebuild its armed forces and Israel’s determination to prevent what it considers hostile military deployments near its borders.