US condemns 'unnecessary escalation' after Israeli airstrikes on Syrian airbase

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — The United States has issued a rare rebuke of Israel after it struck a Syrian military airbase near the Turkish border, calling the attack an "unnecessary escalation".

Eight airstrikes hit the Abu Duhur airport runway and storage facility on Tuesday, according to Syrian state TV, although there were no reports of injuries.

Tom Barrack, the US ambassador in Turkey, who was also appointed as Donald Trump's special envoy for Syria and Iraq, criticized the attacks in a statement posted on social media.

"We are deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes on Abu al-Duhur Airbase constitute an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability," Barrack wrote on X.

Syria and Turkey blamed the Israeli military for the attacks that they said threaten to escalate tensions in the region.

Syria's foreign ministry called the attacks "an unjustified act of aggression" imperilling regional "security and stability".

Israel, while not commenting on the strikes directly, said Syria "was on the verge of breaching" the security status quo, accusing Damascus of allowing Turkish troops to deploy to the airbase.

The Foreign Ministry of Turkey condemned the attack in a statement and called for “the international community to take a more decisive stance to end Israel’s escalating aggression against Syria and to ensure accountability for these actions that disregard international law.”

Ankara has ‌accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria and undermine its new administration. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on August 6 that Israel continued to threaten Syria’s security through its repeated attacks, calling for international pressure on Israel to respect Syria’s territorial integrity.

Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army and recently signed a defense pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, has become one of Syrian President ‌Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s main allies. It has been training Syria’s army, helping it rebuild its state institutions and infrastructure, and providing it military and diplomatic support.

The Turkish ruling AK Party’s ⁠spokesperson Omer Celik said the ⁠strikes “showed once again that Israeli policies are the greatest enemy of peace and tranquility for the peoples of the region.”

“The entire international community must react to this together,” Celik wrote on X.

Regional countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt also issued statements condemning the strikes.

Turkey, meanwhile, did not confirm whether any of its troops moved to the Abu Duhur airbase, which sits 70km from the Turkish border. However, Ankara rejected Israel's suggestion that it posed a threat.

"The frivolous allegations put forward by the Israeli prime minister's office aim to legitimize Israel's unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Turkey's Communications Directorate said in a statement quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

Abu Duhur has been abandoned as a dedicated military airfield since 2013. Rebel forces seized control of the base as they swept through the country in December 2024.

Syria has been trying to rebuild its military facilities that were damaged during the blitz offensive that saw Bashar al-Assad's government overthrown within two weeks.

Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after Assad’s fall, mainly destroying assets of the Syrian army to keep them out of the hands of his successors. The Israeli military also seized control of a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria, which it continues to occupy.

Israeli drone strikes on a southern suburb of Damascus last year killed eight soldiers and wounded others.

Barrack said Al-Sharaa, who led the rebel forces against Assad, "has neither adopted not maintained proxy forces" and "repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel".

US-mediated talks between Israel and Syria aimed at reaching a security agreement have been ongoing for more than a year but have so far failed to produce a deal.

The US would continue to offer to host diplomatic discussions between both sides to address "kinetic frustrations", Barrack added.

Al-Sharaa has forged closer ties with the West since coming to power, particularly the US. He became the first Syrian leader to visit the White House in November last year.