Syria: Israel accused of strikes on military airport being renovated

The American president's special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, on Tuesday blamed Israel for strikes in the morning on a Syrian military airport, currently being repaired with the help of Turkey according to an NGO, with Damascus condemning an “unjustified aggression” on the part of its neighbor. Israel did not immediately react to these accusations.

The United States is “deeply concerned” by “the confirmed Israeli airstrikes against the Abou Dhouhour air base”, in the province of Idlib (northwest), declared Tom Barrack, also ambassador of the United States to Turkey, denouncing “an unnecessary escalation which does not promote regional stability”.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry had just condemned “in the strongest terms” what it described as “an act of unjustified aggression” on the part of Israel against this military airport. Citing a military source, Syrian state television had previously announced that Israeli planes had targeted “the runway” of the “Abou Dhouhour” base early in the morning (...) with eight strikes, causing “material damage” but without causing any casualties.

Syrian diplomacy also called on the international community and the UN Security Council to “adopt a firm stance against Israel’s repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty.” Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Syria since the December 2024 overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad by a coalition of Islamist groups. He also deployed troops in the buffer zone placed under UN surveillance, which separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, claiming to have set up a “security zone” there which he claims to maintain.

The airport, which suffered heavy damage during the Syrian civil war, has been out of service since 2012, according to a security source at AFP, and is currently protected by Syrian Defense Ministry forces. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom and with a vast network of sources in Syria, these strikes took place after “the visit, in recent days, of a Turkish military delegation to the airport as part of ongoing efforts to put it back into service.”

Turkey, whose relations with Israel have been terrible since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, is a key ally of the new Syrian authorities. Syria has repeatedly condemned Israeli operations on its territory, and demanded the withdrawal of the troops that Israel has deployed there. But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated last week that Tel Aviv would maintain forces there. Despite these tensions, Israel and the new Syrian authorities held several rounds of direct talks and agreed to establish an intelligence-sharing mechanism.