Israeli defence minister warns Turkey against ‘dangerous adventures’ in Syria

Jerusalem: Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Thursday warned Turkey against “dangerous adventures” in Syria, as tensions escalated after Israel struck a Syrian airbase over alleged plans to deploy Turkish troops there.

Katz claimed in a social media post that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is dragging Turkey into these adventures, saying Israel “will not allow any actor to threaten its security.”

Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, saying that Syria was preparing to allow Turkish forces to deploy at the facility, a move Israel viewed as threatening, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Turkey rejected the claim and accused Israel of violating Syria’s sovereignty. Syria also denied that a Turkish military buildup was planned at the base, saying Turkish officers had visited it as part of military training and cooperation.

Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir toured southern Syria on Wednesday, the military said, a day after Israel carried out airstrikes on an airbase in northwestern Syria, citing what it said was the deployment of Turkish forces there.

“We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders,” Zamir said during the visit. “We see what is happening and are monitoring the changes on the Syrian front.”

“We are still in a multi-front war, alert and operating in all arenas — escalation can develop in any one of them, and we must remain in constant readiness for that,” he added.

The military said Zamir held a security assessment with senior commanders and visited Israeli troops operating in what it calls a “security zone” in southern Syria.

Syria’s state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported, citing a military source, that Israeli warplanes carried out eight airstrikes early Tuesday on the runway of the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, causing material damage but no casualties.

IANS