None.

Syria denies security agreement with Israel after airbase attack

A Syrian Foreign Ministry diplomatic source has denied that any agreement exists between Syria and Israel involving a specific security arrangement, telling Al Jazeera that Israeli claims on the matter were false.

The source said Israel struck Abu al-Duhur military airport despite having been informed that no foreign force was present at the site, without specifying which channel had conveyed that information or when.

The source said Syria “cannot enter into an agreement that obstructs the building of civilian and military institutions” and added that no agreement could be accepted that limits Syria’s role in strengthening regional stability.

The remarks come after Syria condemned Israeli strikes on the Idlib airport in letters to the UN secretary-general and the Security Council president, calling for Israel’s withdrawal from Syrian territory.

Israel has confirmed it carried out the strikes, saying it targeted the airbase because it believed Turkiye was planning to deploy forces there.

Netanyahu claims Syria, Israel agreed to ‘status quo’

Earlier, Israeli air strikes targeted an airbase in northwest Syria, about 70km (43.5 miles) east of the Turkish border, which has been ⁠out of service as a dedicated military airfield since 2013 and has changed hands several times during Syria’s 14-year civil war.

While Israel has yet to officially claim the attacks, Syria, the United States and Jordan have all said the attack on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Idlib was the latest Israeli strike on its neighbor.

The Israeli prime minister’s office now posted a short statement on X, in which it claims Israel and Syria have agreed “to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo”.

“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings,” it said. “Israel will not tolerate threats to its security and would welcome a return to the status quo”, the statement read.

"Israel repeatedly warned Syria.."

No such warning has not been issues since December 2024. The Israelis have been attacking Syria preemptively since 2013.

Turkiye dismisses Israeli rationale for Syria air strikes, condemns attacks

Turkey's Presidential Communications Directorate has rejected Israeli claims that Israel struck Syria’s Abu al-Duhur military airport because of a planned Turkish troop deployment.

“The allegations put forward by the Israeli Prime Ministry, which lack seriousness, aim to legitimize Israel’s unlawful air strikes targeting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria,” the directorate said in a statement on X.

The statement said the accusations stem from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intent to continue “expansionist and destabilizing policies” in the region ahead of elections in Israel.

Turkiye said it supports “the establishment of lasting peace” in the region, adding that this requires Netanyahu to abandon aggressive policies and respect international law.

The directorate added that Turkiye would “steadfastly continue its cooperation with the Syrian government on legitimate grounds” and would “never allow Syria to be destabilized”.

"..because of a planned Turkish troop deployment."

When Turkey entered Idlib in 2017 to establish an outpost, no Israeli attack took place. In 2022, there where 74 Turkish outposts in Idlib province. Still, no Israeli attacks.

Israel ‘doesn’t want a secure or a stable Syria’

Abdul Karim al-Omar, a political analyst, says the US has the tools to halt Israeli strikes on Syria entirely, but has so far declined to use them.

Speaking from Damascus, al-Omar said that US intervention at the last moment prevented a broader clash between Turkiye and Israel following Israel’s recent attack on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur military airport.

“Israel informed the American side that Syria was strengthening its military capacity, and passed intelligence information to Washington,” al-Omar said. “That’s why Israel carried out this strike after informing Washington.”

Al-Omar said the attack relied on a pretext Israel knew to be untrue.

“It knows full well there are no Turkish forces at the airport, or near the airport,” he said, pointing out that Turkish forces in Syria are based further north, in Idlib and Aleppo. 

He added that Israel’s justification for the attack (concern over Syrian military rebuilding) is undermined by the fact that Israel itself destroyed Syria’s military infrastructure following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

“There’s no air defence system, no missile system, no aircraft– nothing at all,” al-Omar said. “All of it was destroyed by Israel.”

Al-Omar suggested that while Washington wants “a secure, stable, unified Syria” as a regional partner, Israel “doesn’t want a secure or a stable Syria” and continues to seek pretexts, including Turkish presence, southern militias, and buffer zones, to justify ongoing attacks.

UN calls for end to Israeli air strikes on Syria

The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that Israel’s air strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Syria’s eastern Idlib province mark “yet another very worrying violation” of Syria’s territorial integrity and airspace.

“These air strikes should stop, and we stand against them,” Stephane Dujarric said at a UN press briefing on Tuesday.

The remarks follow Syria’s condemnation of the strikes in letters sent to the UN secretary-general and the president of the Security Council.

Egypt condemns Israeli strike on Syria’s Abu al-Duhour airport

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry has condemned Israeli air strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military airport in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Idlib province, calling them a “dangerous escalation that threatens security and stability in the region”.

In a statement, the ministry said Egypt “fully rejects” Israel’s continued violations of Syrian sovereignty. Cairo warned that the strikes risk further destabilizing Syria at a critical time, when the country requires support to restore stability and pursue political solutions.

The statement called on the international community to “assume its responsibilities” by putting an end to repeated Israeli violations and adopting firm measures to deter actions that fuel a broader regional conflict.

‘Diplomacy’ is Syria’s only option against Israeli attacks

Abdul Karim al-Omar, a Damascus-based political researcher, said Syria’s government has no realistic option beyond diplomacy in response to repeated Israeli attacks, given the country is still rebuilding its military.

“Syria really has no options but to act diplomatically to stop the repeated Israeli attacks on Syria, through the Security Council and the United Nations,” said al-Omar, citing Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani’s comments on the government’s approach.

He pointed out Damascus has already sent two letters to the UN and the Security Council seeking intervention, alongside outreach to Arab states, the US and the European Union.

Al-Omar said Israel is well aware Syria’s military “is in its infancy, newly formed” and lacking advanced weapons or air defence systems, but argued the strikes stem less from any genuine security threat than from unease over Syria’s political stabilization under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

“Israel wants Syria to remain a permanent arena of conflict,” the researcher said.

He added that this leaves Damascus to pursue international pressure rather than confrontation, working through the UN, EU and Arab allies to push Israel to halt what he described as its interference in Syrian affairs.

Israel began attacking Syrian army bases, mainly weapon storage places, in December 2024 after the HTS toppled the Assad regime. One may believe that the Israelis were preventing the then-Jihadist group HTS from getting weapons cache into their hands.

Well, there is this question:

Why does the Lebanese military still not have an adequate army, air force and navy to carry out the primary task every army in the world has: to protect the country, and who really wants the Lebanese army remain defenseless?

Southern Lebanon and half of Syria were once part of an Jewish empire   (Kingdom of David), which the Israelis call "Greater Israel," which is an idea that re-emerged in October 2023.

This is also the real motive behind the Israeli presence in Syria. And to have that idea to be fulfilled, the Israelis are making sure that even the new Syrian army can't defend the country. That is the real reason why diplomacy is the only option left.

Prominent Russian general says Israel risks ceasing ‘to exist as a state’

A senior Russian military official has claimed that Israel’s primary objective is to escalate conflict in the Middle East to draw the United States and NATO into war.

Speaking to Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS, Lieutenant General Apty Alaudinov, deputy chief of the Russian army’s Main Military-Political Directorate and commander of the Akhmat special forces unit, argued that the situation in the region will only continue to intensify.

“We must realize that the war in the Middle East will only escalate. I believe that is precisely Israel’s objective: to ramp up the conflict as much as possible and drag both the US and the entire NATO bloc into it,” Alaudinov said.

“Ultimately, they [Israel] will overestimate their strength and cease to exist as a state,” he added.

Israeli forces search homes and abduct two in Syria’s Quneitra

Syrian state television reports that Israeli forces infiltrated Jubata al-Khashab, in the northern countryside of Quneitra province.

It said Israeli troops searched several residential properties before abducting two individuals.

More than 100 Israeli forces participated in raid in Syria’s Quneitra: Syrian state media

Syria’s state news agency SANA reports that the infiltration of Jubata al-Khashab included more than 100 Israeli military personnel and 15 military vehicles.

Additionally, SANA says Israeli forces shelled the Yarmouk Basin area in the western countryside of Deraa.

Israel’s Syria strike risked direct clash with Turkiye, US Syria envoy Tom Barrack says

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, US Ambassador to Turkey and Syria envoy Tom Barrack says Israel’s strike on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase yesterday carried a “real risk of rapid escalation into a direct military confrontation” with Turkiye as well as Syria.

Barrack told the Israeli newspaper that Turkish forces were unaware Israeli aircraft were heading towards the Syrian base or of their intended purpose.

They therefore “could potentially have been inclined to scramble their own jets in the belief that they themselves were under attack”, he said.

“The events of yesterday were serious and worrisome. However, we are relieved that no human life was harmed and that the situation did not escalate,” Barrack added.

Israel to use force ‘wherever and whenever necessary’: Army chief

 The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, says the country must prevent the emergence of military threats on its borders in his first comments since Israeli attacks on an airbase in Syria, according to Israeli media.

Zamir made the comments on a tour of Israeli-occupied areas in southern Syria, according to the Hebrew-language NTD channel, which quoted him as saying: “We will not allow hostile forces to establish a presence along our borders, and we will know how to use our power precisely, wherever and whenever necessary.”

Israel said the attack on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur Airbase near Aleppo on Tuesday was to stop Turkish troops from deploying at the base. The statement said Israel and Syria had “agreed to a status quo in security matters” but Damascus was “on the verge of breaching” the agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the airbase.

Turkiye has dismissed the allegations as “frivolous”.

The statement resembles a statement, Menachem Begin  made in 1968 at the UNGA: "Make sure that no enemy has a reactor." 

In the context of the war on Iran: "Make sure that Iran has no nuclear program."

In 1968, no UN member state saw in another UN member state a nuclear enemy -even the US didn't. Only the Israelis without mentioning Arab countries.

If we translate Begin's statement into Israeli modern way of thinking, it's "Make sure that no one is a threat to us."

That's what Israeli preemptive attacks are.

Jordan expresses solidarity with Syria after Israel attack

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has expressed solidarity with Syria following Israeli air strikes on an airbase near Aleppo, in a phone call with his Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shaibani, according to a statement by Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The Jordanian Foreign Minister expressed Jordan’s condemnation of Israeli violations in Syrian territories, emphasising the Kingdom’s solidarity and support for Syria. Both sides also stressed the importance of continuing efforts aimed at enhancing peace and stability in the region,” it said.

UK ‘deeply concerned’ about Israeli strikes on Syrian airbase

Barrie Peach, the United Kingdom’s special representative for Syria, says he is “deeply concerned” about the Israeli strikes on the Abu al-Duhur airbase as the attacks are “leading to the destabilization of Syria”.

In an Arabic-language post on X, Peach said: “We continue to call on Israel to respect Syrian sovereignty and return to the negotiating table. For dialogue and diplomacy are capable of achieving a more peaceful future for both countries and the region.”

Bahrain joins condemnation of Israeli attack on Syrian airbase

Bahrain has condemned Tuesday’s Israeli air strikes on Syria’s Abu al-Duhur airbase as “a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, a clear violation of the rules of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and a threat to the security and stability of the region”.

A statement by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “Bahrain’s firm position in support of the sovereignty, independence … and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic”.

Netanyahu says Israel sent message ‘clearly’ to Turkey in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasts that Israel sent a message to Turkiye against setting up a base in Syria, tacitly acknowledging a strike the day before.

“We will not tolerate a Turkish military entrenchment moving southward, because it threatens us,” Netanyahu told an Army Radio podcast. He said that Israel had initially sent a message “in general terms” against a Turkish military presence at an airfield near Aleppo, close to the Turkish border.

“Apparently they didn’t hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” he said.

Netanyahu’s comments came a day after his office stopped short of claiming Israeli responsibility for the strike, but said that Turkish forces had recently toured the base and warned that Israel would not tolerate a “threat” from a Turkish presence.

US Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack, who is also the US point man on Syria, blamed Israel for the attack and condemned it.

Citing our previous comment:

If we translate Begin's statement into Israeli modern way of thinking, it's "Make sure that no one is a threat to us."

That's what Israeli preemptive attacks are, while that already is a threat but to others.

Syria never was but Israel to Syria since 2013. Turkey never was as it is in Idlib since 2017.

Turkey is in Syria because of the Syrian Kurds, so for its national security interest, not because of the Israeli desires and or Netanyahu's personal motives.

US emphasizes Syria’s sovereignty, Israel’s security in Middle East stability discussions

 The US discussions with Israel, Turkiye and Syria regarding recent developments “are ongoing”, a US State Department spokesperson said.

“We believe that restraint and dialogue are the best way forward,” he added.

The official said Trump’s “leadership in the Middle East has facilitated productive discussions focused on respect for Syria’s sovereignty and stability, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against threats and achieving prosperity in both countries”.

He added that the US president has “presented his clear vision for a prosperous Middle East and a stable Syria living in peace with itself and its neighbors”.