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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Saturday condemned U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack, who also serves as Washington’s point man on Syria and Iraq, after Barrack criticized an Israeli strike on a Syrian military base near Türkiye.
Katz said in a statement that Israel had shared “intelligence information with the authorized parties in the United States” before the strike.
He said Barrack’s comments were “full of inaccuracies” and included positions that “contradict the stance of U.S. President Donald Trump himself regarding the Golan Heights.”
On Tuesday, Israel bombed the disused Abu al-Duhur Military Air Base in northwestern Syria, which was damaged during the country’s civil war and has been out of service since 2012.
Israel claimed it wanted to prevent Turkish troops from deploying to the facility.
Shortly after the strike, Barrack wrote on X that the United States was “deeply concerned” and described the strikes as an “unnecessary escalation.”
In an interview with Lebanese American influencer Mario Nawfal broadcast Friday, Barrack suggested the strike may have been intended to provoke a conflict with Türkiye ahead of Israel’s Oct. 27 general election.
Barrack also said the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and whose annexation was recognized by the United States in 2019, were occupied by Israel.
On Saturday, Barrack said the intelligence behind Israel’s attack on the Abu al-Duhur base was wrong.
Barrack said on social media that he did not know why the attack was carried out but could share the answers given to him.
He said Israel had received intelligence that Türkiye might be moving military assets to the air base in Syria and had shared the information with Washington.
The United States investigated the intelligence, Barrack said.
“We consulted our intelligence agencies, and the answer we received was that this claim was not true,” he said.
Barrack also said there may have been “a miscommunication” among the Israeli army, Mossad and the Prime Minister’s Office.
He stressed that neither the United States nor Türkiye was informed of the attack in advance.
Barrack described the Turkish army as “strong and brave,” saying it is “very well-equipped and knows its job well.”
In his statement, Katz also pushed back against domestic criticism of the strike in Syria, particularly from some opposition leaders.
“The attempt by elements in the opposition and parts of the media to paint the operation in Syria in political colors stems from a combination of ignorance, a lack of understanding of Israel’s security interests, and a constant desire to bash the government — and it deserves every condemnation,” Katz wrote.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Prime Minister’s Office had claimed that “Turkish soldiers were trying to settle at the base and were deploying military installations moving southward.”
Israeli warplanes attacked the abandoned Abu al-Duhur Military Air Base in eastern Idlib province in northern Syria.
No information was shared on whether there were casualties or injuries.
A Syrian official said Israeli warplanes carried out eight attacks on the air base, targeting the runway and an inactive structure in a hangar.
On Saturday, Israel carried out another strike in Syria, saying it targeted a militant southwest of Damascus.
Syria condemned the operation as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
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