US rebukes Israel over strikes on Syrian airbase

The United States criticized Israel after airstrikes hit a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border, calling the attack an “unnecessary escalation” amid rising tension among Israel, Syria and Turkey.

Syrian state television said eight strikes hit the runway and a storage facility at Abu Duhur airbase in Idlib province early Tuesday, causing damage but no reported casualties. Syria and Turkey blamed Israel for the strikes, which targeted a base about 70 kilometers from the Turkish border.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, said Washington was “deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”

Israel did not directly comment on the strikes in detail, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Syria had been “on the verge of breaching” an agreed “status quo in security matters” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base.

“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings,” Netanyahu’s office said, according to NPR.

Syria rejected Israel’s justification. Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani told reporters in Damascus that Syria condemned the “Israeli aggression,” describing the strikes as “an unjustified provocation, a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, and a direct threat to regional and global stability.” Syria’s foreign ministry also called the attack “an unjustified act of aggression” that imperiled regional “security and stability.”

Turkey did not confirm whether any of its troops had moved to the Abu Duhur base. But Ankara dismissed Israel’s claim that Turkey posed a threat there. “The frivolous allegations put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office aim to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Turkey’s Communications Directorate said in a statement quoted by Anadolu, the state news agency.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack and urged “the international community to take a more decisive stance to end Israel’s escalating aggression against Syria and to ensure accountability for these actions that disregard international law.” Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia also issued statements condemning the strikes, NPR reported.

Abu Duhur has been out of service as a dedicated military airfield since 2013. Rebel forces seized control of the base as they swept through the country in December 2024, when Bashar al-Assad’s government was overthrown within two weeks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said foreign fighters had previously stayed at the base before recently being asked to leave, and that Turkey had been rehabilitating the airbase after years out of service.

Since Assad’s fall, Syria has been trying to rebuild military facilities damaged during the offensive that brought the new authorities to power. Turkey has provided assistance to Syria’s military, while Israel has viewed both Syria’s new government and Turkey with suspicion.

Israel has carried out airstrikes in central and southern Syria since Ahmad al-Sharaa came to power. NPR reported that Israel also carried out hundreds of strikes around Syria after Assad’s fall, mainly targeting Syrian army assets, and seized a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria that it continues to occupy.

Barrack said Sharaa’s government has neither “adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces” and has repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel. He said the United States has hosted and will continue to host diplomatic discussions between Israel and Syria. U.S.-mediated talks aimed at reaching a security agreement have been ongoing for more than a year but have not produced a deal, NPR reported.