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Syria's foreign minister told Axios that his government made clear to Israel it was not cooperating with Türkiye to build up a military presence at a Syrian air base, but that Israel struck the site regardless, according to written responses provided to the outlet's Barak Ravid on Wednesday.
The exchange marks the first detailed Syrian government response to Tuesday's pre-dawn Israeli airstrike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria, an attack that has added strain to relations among three countries the United States considers close partners in the region, as the Trump administration works to head off further escalation.
Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaibani said in his written responses that he told Israel directly there was no plan to station Turkish forces at the base on a permanent basis. He said "there was no intention to establish a Turkish base there, nor to establish a permanent Turkish military presence or deploy Turkish forces at the site."
Al-Shaibani went further, arguing that Israel's stated rationale for the strike did not match conditions on the ground. He said the facility "was, in fact, largely empty," noting it had not been fully rehabilitated or made operational and that work there remained in its early rehabilitation stage. He wrote that "linking the strike to a Turkish military presence at the base is not supported by the situation on the ground as it stood at the time."
Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase, located roughly 45 miles from the Turkish border, dropping at least eight bombs on runways and hangars, according to the Axios report. The runways had recently been rebuilt, and the strike damaged them; no casualties were reported.
Israel told the Trump administration that the operation was intended to prevent Türkiye from establishing a military buildup at the base, according to U.S. and Israeli officials cited by Axios. In a video posted to X on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had warned Syria beforehand against allowing a Turkish presence there. He said, "Our message was very clear: Don't. I guess they didn't quite understand the message."
President Trump told Axios in a phone call Wednesday that he had been briefed on the strike but stopped short of criticizing it. "I can't talk about it," he said, and he would not say whether the briefing took place before or after Israel carried out the attack.
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