Syria says it assured Israel that Türkiye had no plans to establish a military presence at the Abu al-Duhur airbase before Israeli forces struck the site on Tuesday.
Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in an interview with Axios on Wednesday that Turkish military officers had visited the airbase in north-western Syria as part of training activities and broader military cooperation, but denied Ankara was building up forces at the site.
He said Damascus had notified Israel beforehand that there were no plans to establish a Turkish military presence at the facility and that Syrian authorities remained open to talks with Israel aimed at de-escalating tensions.
Israel carried out multiple airstrikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase on Tuesday, damaging its runway and other facilities but causing no reported casualties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel had warned Syria ahead of the attack not to permit Turkish forces to establish a presence at the base, saying such a deployment would violate an agreed-upon security “status quo”.
Türkiye later rejected what it called Israel’s “untenable allegations” about its military presence in Syria.
The dispute escalated on Thursday when Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of “dragging Türkiye into dangerous adventures in Syria,” adding that Israel would “not allow any entity to threaten its security.”
The tensions come as Ankara expands its political, military and economic engagement with Syria’s new leadership following the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.
The deepening ties were underlined on Wednesday when Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar visited Damascus, where he said Türkiye was ready to help Syria search for oil and natural gas.
Speaking alongside his Syrian counterpart, Bayraktar said the state-owned Turkish Petroleum Corporation, along with private Turkish firms, was prepared to carry out seismological surveys and exploratory drilling both onshore and offshore in Syria.
He also announced plans for joint electricity infrastructure projects that are expected to be commissioned in the coming weeks.
The projects are aimed at tripling the total electricity transmission capacity between Türkiye and Syria to more than 800 megawatts, Bayraktar said.
The moves highlight Ankara’s growing role in Syria’s reconstruction and security landscape, as tensions between Türkiye and Israel become increasingly pronounced.
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The collective-defence agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signals that regional powers no longer want to rely solely on external security guarantees. Whether it becomes a stabilising deterrent or another axis of rivalry remains unresolved.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 19th of August, covering the latest developments.
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