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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Here's your AnewZ Daily Brief for 28 September 2026. These are the top stories making headlines in technology.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has arrived in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on bilateral ties and key regional and international developments, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
The European Union's decision to simultaneously advance accession talks with Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania marks its most ambitious enlargement effort in more than two decades.
U.S. President Donald Trump has denied reports that he offered Iran sanctions relief and access to frozen funds in exchange for nuclear concessions.
Kazakhstan and Germany have agreed to expand cooperation in critical minerals, industry, energy and transport, with Astana seeking a greater German role in developing supply chains and higher-value production.
Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom has proposed building a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear power unit in Armenia as Yerevan weighs competing international offers, its head Alexey Likhachev said on Tuesday.
Freight on the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway could soon move faster across borders after Georgia, Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed a new customs protocol aimed at cutting delays and streamlining transit.
Afghanistan and Belarus have agreed to expand health cooperation, with a focus on medicines, medical equipment and training healthcare workers, following talks between the two countries’ health ministers in Minsk on Tuesday (29 September).
Saudi Arabia is facing a widening security challenge from Yemen as Houthi forces consolidate recent territorial gains along the Red Sea coast and step up attacks on the kingdom.
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