(Reuters) — Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told Israel there were no plans to establish a Turkish military base at the Abu al-Duhur airbase, saying the site is being rehabilitated for use by the Syrian Air Force.
The comments follow Israeli airstrikes on the Syrian base earlier this week and heightened rhetoric between Israel and Turkey over activity in Syria. Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur facility on Tuesday, warning that Syria was close to violating a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters” by permitting Turkish troop deployments there.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “dragging Turkey into dangerous adventures in Syria,” saying on X that Israel would not allow any actor to threaten its security. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had warned Syria in advance not to allow a Turkish presence at the base. “Our message was very clear. Don’t. I guess they didn’t quite understand the message,” he said.
Al-Shaibani, in an interview with Axios, denied any intention to host a permanent Turkish force or to establish a Turkish base at the site. He said Turkish military officers had visited the base for training and broader cooperation, but that the facility was largely empty and not yet operational. He called the Israeli strike unjustified and reiterated Damascus’s view that there was no Turkish build-up planned.
Turkey rejected Israel’s allegations as “untenable” and has pushed back against accusations about its posture in Syria. Ankara, which fields NATO’s second-largest army and has positioned itself as an influential actor in Syria, has accused Israel of trying to destabilize the country and of undermining the new Syrian administration. Turkey has repeatedly called for international pressure on Israel to respect Syrian territorial integrity.
The strikes come amid worsening security tensions in the region and follow a year in which Israel and Turkey — also at odds over the war in Gaza — established a communication channel to avoid incidents in Syrian airspace.
Tom Barrack, the U.S. special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, said after Tuesday’s strikes that Washington was working to set up a deconfliction mechanism among Israel, Turkey and Syria. Al-Shaibani said Damascus remains open to negotiations on de-escalation and recalled that U.S.-mediated talks had produced significant progress toward a security agreement, but that Israel later withdrew from commitments and the deal was not implemented.
Al-Shaibani warned that any future arrangement must address the security concerns of both sides and respect Syrian sovereignty, adding that continued Israeli military operations in Syria risked increasing regional instability.
First published: Aug 20, 2026 (Updated).