The mechanism worked for nearly a decade, until Assad was overthrown in December 2024 by the forces led by the current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.<\/p>\n
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin meets with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. (credit: Alexander Zemlianichenko\/Pool\/AFP via Getty Images)How Israel and Russia avoided a Syria confrontation for years<\/p>\n
It worked largely because Israel and Russia reached an informal understanding: Each had interests in Syria. Israel would not interfere with Russia\u2019s, and Russia would allow Israel to protect its own.<\/p>\n
Those interests were clear. Russia wanted to preserve its regional foothold by keeping Assad in power; Israel wanted to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from entrenching themselves in Syria. Moscow would not interfere with Israel\u2019s actions as long as they did not threaten Assad\u2019s rule, and Israel would not target his regime as long as Jerusalem retained freedom of action against Iran and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Put another way, the understanding was: \u201cYou take care of your business, I\u2019ll take care of mine, and we need not clash as long as we remain within our respective spheres.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it worked. Israel carried out hundreds of attacks in Syria as part of its Campaign Between the Wars without directly confronting or seriously harming Russia\u2019s extensive military presence there.<\/p>\n
Why does this history matter today, in August 2026?<\/p>\n
Because on Tuesday, Israel attacked the runway and storage facilities at the Abu al-Duhur air base<\/a> in the Idlib province, some 60 kilometers from the Turkish border. Israel believed the base was being prepared for Turkish forces, according to foreign media reports, and a military delegation from Turkey had visited the site just hours before the attack.<\/p>\n Why Israel targeted a Syrian air base linked to Turkey<\/p>\n Netanyahu discussed the reason for the strike in a clip released on Wednesday. \u201cWe will not tolerate a Turkish military buildup extending southward. We conveyed that in every possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNow we saw that Turkey intended to establish itself at an air base farther south, close to Aleppo, and we sent a message,\u201d he continued. \u201cHow shall I put that message? \u2018Don\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The prime minister said that although the original message had been received, \u201capparently it wasn\u2019t heard,\u201d so Israel acted to ensure that the Turks \u201cunderstood it better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not tolerate a Turkish military buildup extending southward,\u201d he reiterated.<\/p>\n Considering Turkey\u2019s implacable hostility toward Israel in both words and deeds, Netanyahu\u2019s position is understandable. Turkey hosts Hamas and spearheads diplomatic moves against Israel, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent years spewing virulently anti-Israel rhetoric.<\/p>\n In June, Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci said that just as Damascus, Aleppo, and Nagorno-Karabakh had been \u201cliberated,\u201d Jerusalem would also be liberated one day. Ciftci added that he had prayed to become Jerusalem\u2019s governor and predicted that lands once ruled by the Ottoman Empire would return to Turkish rule.<\/p>\n Turkey also recently signed a mutual-defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan \u2013 two major Sunni powers, one of them nuclear-armed. A country whose leaders speak that way and whose regional ambitions are expanding is not one Israel wants building up militarily anywhere near its borders.<\/p>\n But there is more to it than that, because the air base attacked on Tuesday is not near Israel\u2019s border. It is, however, reportedly near a route Israeli aircraft could use to fly to Iran. Israel does not want hostile radar and air defense systems compromising its air superiority and freedom of action.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the Prime Minister\u2019s Office posted on X\/Twitter that Israel and Syria had agreed to a security status quo that Damascus was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at Abu al-Duhur. Israel warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat, the post said, but Syria ignored those warnings.<\/p>\n Israel, it continued, \u201cwill not tolerate threats to its security and would welcome a return to the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n Syria and Turkey dispute Israel\u2019s account. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said there were no plans for a Turkish base or permanent Turkish troop presence at Abu al-Duhur, and that Turkish officers had visited the site only as part of military training and cooperation.<\/p>\n But the Israeli statement nevertheless revealed that some kind of modus vivendi had been established between Jerusalem and Damascus regarding what would and would not be tolerated. In Israel\u2019s view, moving Turkish troops \u2013 and possibly sophisticated radar and air defense systems \u2013 into the Abu al-Duhur air base violated those understandings.<\/p>\n The attack, therefore, carried two messages: one to Syria, warning it to respect the previous understandings; and one to Turkey, making clear that Israel has redlines.<\/p>\n It also triggered a response from US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who is also Washington\u2019s special envoy for Syria and Iraq. Barrack initially called the strike \u201can unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Girls](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787310310_534_ShowImage.ashx.jpeg\"\/)
Girls play near a sign at Mount Bental, an observation post on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, overlooking the Syrian side of the Kuneitra crossing (credit: REUTERS\/BAZ RATNER)Erdogan\u2019s Turkey poses a different challenge than Putin\u2019s Russia<\/p>\n