Israel, after base strike, says Syria acceptance of Turkish troops posed 'threat'

Israel accused Syria of violating an agreement by accepting Turkish troops on a base in its northwest, which was bombed Tuesday in an attack the United States criticised and blamed on Israel.

"Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

"Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel's security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings," said the statement, which stopped short of acknowledging Israeli responsibility.

Netanyahu's office issued the statement late Tuesday after a day of official silence by Israel.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syria since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024 but Tuesday's raid was well away from a self-described security zone Israel maintains in the south of the country.

The base was out of service since 2012 and protected by the Syrian defence ministry, a security source told AFP.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, the strikes came after a visit by a Turkish military delegation to the airfield in recent days as part of efforts to reactivate it.

Turkey was the first Muslim-majority nation to recognise Israel but Israel has tense relations with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose roots are in political Islam and who has vociferously denounced Israel, especially over its devastating offensive in Gaza.

US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack accused Israel of "an unnecessary escalation", in a rare direct criticism by the United States of its close ally.