Turkey and Syria slam Israel for strikes on Syrian airbase attributed to IDF

Duration: 9:07 1631 transcript words EN summary

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Syrian state television reported that Israeli air strikes hit an airbase in northwest Syria early Tuesday, causing material damage without casualties. The report specified that eight separate strikes targeted the runway in Idlib province, a facility Turkey has been rehabilitating and which serves as a hub for foreign fighters. While Israel has not commented on the incident, US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, confirmed the strikes via social media, describing them as an unnecessary escalation that fails to advance regional stability. This event highlights the growing tension between Ankara and Tel Aviv, raising concerns about miscalculations and the potential for further conflict in a volatile region. Retired Turkish Ambassador Cengiz Çandar joined the discussion to characterize these actions as reckless and undiplomatic, noting that actual hits on another country's airbase near the border represent aggressive behavior rather than mere rhetoric. He emphasized that both sides are increasingly using hostile language and engaging in actions that escalate friction points, with Turkey viewing Israel's continuous bombing of Syrian infrastructure as contrary to international law. Çandar argued that Syria does not currently pose a threat to Israel and that attacking it repeatedly prevents the country from rebuilding a viable economy, which would ultimately benefit all parties including Israel. He suggested that if such aggression continues until after upcoming elections, it indicates Israel is on a warpath with everyone, a strategy he strongly advises against. The conversation also addressed Turkey's expanding military footprint in Syria and other regions like Somalia, Libya, and potentially Gaza, which some view as encroachments into Israel's security orbit. Security analyst Yaakov Lappin noted that Turkey views these areas as part of its historical Ottoman sphere, feeling entitled to re-establish presence there regardless of local regimes. However, the transcript suggests that the true nature of the threat remains classified intelligence; it is unclear whether Turkey was planning to deploy advanced air defense systems, drones, or radar capable of threatening Israeli airspace. The strike may have been a preemptive move against capabilities intended for use by the Syrian regime itself, which Çandar described as being composed of jihadist and fundamentalist elements that vow to conquer Jerusalem, posing a significant security concern for Israel following October 7th. Ultimately, the incident underscores a deep divergence in perspectives regarding security threats and diplomatic engagement in Syria. While Israeli decision-makers appear convinced of imminent threats requiring pre-emptive strikes, Turkish officials view these actions as disproportionate and destabilizing. The transcript reveals that while rhetoric from Ankara has been increasingly hostile toward Israel, the physical reality involves Turkey supporting a Syrian government structure and rehabilitating infrastructure, creating a complex security dynamic. Experts warn that without returning to diplomacy and dialogue, this cycle of aggression and counter-aggression could lead to further escalation, potentially drawing in regional actors and undermining long-term stability in the Middle East.

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Syrian state television today claiming that Israeli air strikes hit an airbase in northwest Syria early Tuesday causing material damage without any casualties. Israel has made no comment. But the Syrian TV report said eight separate strikes took out the runway in the northern northwestern province of Idlib, gave no further detail. War monitors in Syria added that Turkey, which is a main backer of Syria's government, has been rehabilitating the airbase, which is also a known hub for foreign fighters over the years. But the incident prompted US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, social media to say that he, quote unquote, confirmed Israeli air strikes, as he put it, are, quote, an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability, close quote. And we're joined by retired ambassador Cengiz Çandar, former Turkish ambassador. And good to have you with us back on the show here, Cengiz. Um, with this fears of Israel-Turkey miscalculation, you know, we see this at least, if it's true what's being claimed in Syrian television, what seemed that Americans seem to be sure about, um, the suspected Israeli air strikes that hit an airbase in Syria, you know, how how fraught are these friction points, these friction lines between, let's say, Turkey and Israel at this point? >> Well, I think, um, it's getting to be quite reckless. Um, it's getting to be quite, um, Well, well, well, how can I say it? To be very diplomatic, we need to make sure that communication lines are kept open, and, um, we always say we shouldn't go one step further. Uh, but, um, apart from the rhetoric coming from both sides, what do we see? We see on the ground, um, actual hits, uh, using fighter jets, um, on another country's airbase. And, uh, this is aggressive behavior, and I agree with the, US ambassador's uh, wording that he put there. This was quite reckless. This was quite near to the Turkish border. So it's a clear message coming from the Israeli side, obviously. But having said that, reading what's been delivered by both sides, we are upping the ante all the time. Both sides declaring quite Well, how can I say it? Undiplomatic words towards each other. But having said this, how we see it in Turkey as such is that there's an escalation, there's an aggressive behavior coming from the Israeli side with actions, not only words, but actual actions. >> Well, let me cut in there for a minute, Cengiz. Look, Israel isn't launching strikes this deep in Syria for practice. And you're talking about the threats emanating from Israel at this point, but there's clearly a a perception of threat, you know, coming out of Syria, which is a patchwork of jihadi groups supported by the by the Turkish government, which you talk about hostile rhetoric, and we could write a book on the rhetoric that's come from Ankara in the last year just towards Israel, all the illegitimate talk and things like that. So, you know, what stability exactly do you think Ambassador Baric and others are pushing for right now? >> Well, Turkey and as far as I can understand with Ambassador Baric as well, they're trying to build alliances at the moment. Now, Syria is not the state that is going to cause any harm to Israel at the moment or for the foreseeable future. So attacking it all all the time, continuously using your words, you know, rehearsing our actions on the ground, etc., these are all contrary to international law. What needs to be done is to make to make sure that we go back to talking. We go back to diplomacy. We go back to actually seeing eye to eye on certain things. If the Syrians can get together and build a state again, a viable state that runs, that that has a viable economy, etc. It's not going to be detrimental to anybody, including Israel. Now, what we do see is that Israel doesn't want any sort of viable, standing, stable economy or country in Syria. >> Well, from where you pulling that from? Getting this from a from a strike on a remote airbase that Turkey's allegedly building up? We don't want anything stable in Syria. >> These are the actions of the Israeli state that has been ongoing for quite some time. You've been attacking aggressively a state. You've been calling them jihadist, etc. But, they haven't attacked you. Not a single attack has come your way. You You've enlarged your territory. Turkey is, yes, building the network there so that the government can function. And it's been called by another state to come in and help. And we're trying to do that. On the contrary, Israel is bombing non-stop. This has to stop. We We're We're looking at this from a time frame of Is this going to continue until the elections? Or is this going to stop after the elections? If it doesn't stop after the elections, it means that Israel is on a warpath non-stop with everybody. And if you want to have another country like Turkey on your warpath, go ahead. I don't recommend it at all. This is This is a very reckless, very undiplomatic way of going forward. >> Well, it certainly is undiplomatic, but the assertion that there are no threats, you know, emanating from Syria, well, apparently Israeli decision makers see that differently. If If in fact this was an Israeli strike in Syria again, but I guess that we have it from the former Turkish ambassador. Cengiz, thanks for being with us. Bring that in the studio now with Yaakov Lappin, our security analyst in here. And look, Turkey's military footprint, let's just talk about that, you know, on top of the rhetoric. You know, our this our former ambassador friend here makes it seem like it's, you know just a lot of words in the air but there are military encroachments you know coming into Israel's orbit such as Syria which shares a border with Israel let's remind everyone. Um we see that in Syria we see it in Somaliland we see it in Libya places where the Turkish military is moving in or like would like to move in Gaza perhaps being one of them. You know how do you summarize Yacoub from your perspective you know Turkish let's say beyond the rhetoric which has been hard to find a country more hostile in the rhetoric towards Israel actually you know Iran maybe in a challenging zone there but you know what do you say about the military footprint actions of Turkey that clearly might be threatening Israel? >> Well look I think that uh Turkey views Syria like so many other areas in the region under this Turkish president Erdogan as a sort of stomping former imperial stomping ground of the Ottoman Empire and they feel very entitled to be moving right back into these areas. It somewhat amuses me when Turkey complains about Israeli defensive buffer zones that are actually very small. In Syria when >> Turkey Turkey as well about defensive buffers. >> Look at the Turkish military presence in northern Syria which precedes this regime which is in fact friendly to Turkey there's no doubt about that but Turkey had that buffer zone also under the Assad regime when it was not welcome in Syria and that didn't seem to matter at all to Turkish decision makers. Uh you know we're not we're not even going to start talking about uh Cyprus and and other areas where where the Turkish military uh is occupying so really you know this rhetoric is is amusing to me but look at the end of the day what we have here is a very partial picture. Clearly assuming as you say this that this was Israel some sort of intelligence came in of a threatening capability it's not the airport itself it's what Turkey was planning to install to deploy into that airport. We don't know what what that is could it have been some sort of advanced air defense system that would have uh uh seriously threatened Israel's ability to operate in the in the in those skies. Let's not forget this is also a pathway that has reportedly been used to work to Iran to get to Iran. Was it some sort of drone capability, radar, missiles, offensive, defense? We don't know. This is classified intelligence. >> I'd argue the bar is high for Israeli decision makers to say let's strike this thing close to the Turkish >> Close to Turkish border. This is a very dramatic message to the decision makers in Turkey saying We've asked you not to deploy this. We see that you're about to do it. Don't do it. It's not the first time, David, because we know that in April of 2025 a strategic airbase called T4, which is in the middle of the Syrian desert in the center of the country, was reportedly struck by Israel after once again intelligence came in reportedly showing that Turkey was about to deploy threatening capabilities in this area. Now, the the other issue is it's not necessarily Turkey that would be activating these capabilities. It would be the Syrian regime potentially. And well, who is the Syrian regime? Well, it's easy to play down the threat of jihadists when they're not when you're not the one on the receiving end. But we know that the Syrian army is made up of jihadists, fundamentalists, people who have vowed to conquer Jerusalem. They sound like Hamas. We know where this rhetoric leads. And after October 7th, Israel cannot allow these forces to build threatening capabilities.