Syria, US say Israel struck disused military airbase in Idlib province

• Syria accused Israel of striking the Abu Duhur military airport with eight strikes, causing material damage but no casualties.
• Israel maintains troops in southern Syria aiming for a broader demilitarised security zone despite Syrian condemnations.
• Syria seeks international support to halt Israeli incursions amid ongoing tensions and recent direct talks with Israel.

DAMASCUS – Syria and the United States accused Israel of attacking a disused military airbase in Syria’s north-west on Aug 18, as a monitor said the strikes followed a Turkish delegation’s inspection of the site.

Israel has not claimed the attack, but US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on X that “the confirmed Israeli air strikes” on the Abu Duhur airbase in Idlib province “constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability”.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on Syria since the December 2024 toppling of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad by Islamist forces whom it considers jihadists.

It has also sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separates Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974, and carries out regular incursions deeper inside Syrian territory.

Israeli officials have also said they intend to keep forces in a “security zone” in southern Syria, where they seek a broader demilitarised zone.

Syrian state media, quoting a military source, said that “Israeli occupation aircraft early this morning targeted the runway” of the base “with eight strikes”, damaging infrastructure but without causing casualties.

The facility has been out of service since 2012 and is currently protected by Syrian defence ministry forces, a security source told AFP.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, the strikes came after “a visit by a Turkish military delegation to the airfield in recent days as part of efforts to reactivate it”.

Turkey is a key ally of Syria’s new authorities.

But ties between Israel and Turkey have come under increasing strain in recent years following Israel’s war in Gaza and over Israeli military action in Syria.

‘Unjustified’

The relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also become increasingly poisoned.

A billboard for Netanyahu’s Likud party ahead of October elections in Israel pictures the Turkish leader alongside figures such as Naim Qassem, head of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Barrack, who is also US ambassador to Turkey, said: “We encourage all parties to prioritise logical discourse over further military incidents.”

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the Israeli air strikes” targeting the base, calling them “an unjustified act of aggression”.

It urged the international community and the United Nations Security Council to “take a firm position against Israel’s repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty”.

The “continuation of these Israeli attacks” since December 2024 came while Syria “has exercised restraint and worked to consolidate stability and avoid escalation”, it added.

Despite tensions between the neighbours, Israel and Syria’s new authorities have held several rounds of direct talks and have agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism.

In July, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani condemned “the continuation of Israeli military actions” and warned that “the unlawful occupation of our land beyond the 1974 line is a direct threat to the security of the region”.

He demanded an “immediate and unconditional withdrawal”.

But last week, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that his country planned to keep troops in Syria.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on a visit to Damascus in July said: “Violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are unacceptable and must cease”, adding that “the Golan Heights are Syrian territory.”

Israel captured most of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, in a move not recognised by most of the international community. AFP