ISTANBUL — Israel did not warn the United States before it struck an air base in northern Syria this week, despite fears of an escalation with U.S. ally Turkey, the American special envoy to Syria said.
Israel usually closely coordinates its military actions with the U.S., its key backer. Washington has tried to use this influence to moderate attacks as Israel carries out operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.
Tom Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkey, said the attack Tuesday on the Abu Duhur base could have been Israel “baiting the Turks,” which he said “was the serious and worrying part.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, however, contradicted Barrack’s assertion that there was no warning, saying in a statement that Israel decided to alert senior members of the Syrian government. “Simultaneously, we transferred the intelligence reports to the relevant authorities in the U.S.,” Katz added.
In the wake of the strikes, which caused damage but no casualties, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the base was attacked because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.
Barrack said it was likely that Israel had intelligence suggesting Turkey may be bolstering its presence in the area, and “a commander somewhere in the field made a decision, ‘We’re not going to let that happen.’ … What they didn’t do is tell us or Turkey.”
He added that another possible reason for the attack on Abu Duhur, about 50 miles east of the Turkish border, was a miscommunication between the Israeli military and the country’s intelligence agency.
“When [Turkish military forces] see these jets coming towards the border and they don’t know what the purpose, direction or intention is, they start to say, ‘We’re going to have to scramble our own,’” Barrack said as he outlined how close he believed Israel and Turkey came to direct confrontation.
In 2015, Turkey had shot down a Russian jet over its Syrian frontier. The ambassador’s comments were published on X late Friday by Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese Australian entrepreneur.
Barrack also said that Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of United Nations resolutions. His boss, President Trump, however, issued a proclamation in 2019 recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of U.S. policy.
Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said the strike on the base was authorized after the “warning wasn’t heeded,” adding that there were “clear intelligence reports” of Turkey’s intention to use the base “to harm Israel.” He did not provide further detail.
Barrack’s comments were “full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict” Trump’s position on the Golan Heights, the minister added.
Two Syrian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said Wednesday that a Turkish delegation had visited the air base in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib a day before the airstrike to review reconstruction work underway there.
Israel had raised concerns about Turkish military activity at the air base, but the U.S. concluded that was “not happening,” Barrack said.
“The unintended consequence of a mistake could be really consequential,” he added.
Turkey has been supporting Syria’s effort to rebuild its armed forces by training Syrian personnel and supplying equipment and logistical support. The two countries signed an agreement last year that formalized their military cooperation.
Turkish government officials have repeatedly stated that they do not consider Syria’s security separate from their own.
Israel, meanwhile, has remained suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus, led by former Islamist insurgents. Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has said repeatedly that he does not want conflict with Israel.
Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in late 2024. The Israeli military also seized control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria, which it continues to occupy.
Turkey, which recently signed a defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, gave no indication that it would respond militarily to the Israeli strikes in Syria, but the incident added further strain to Turkish-Israeli relations.
Wilks writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Ghaith Alsayed in Damascus contributed to this report.