Message to Turkey, strike in Syria, and wall-to-wall condemnation in the Arab world

On the night of August 18, 2026, Air Force fighter jets struck the Abu al-Duhur military airfield in the Idlib province of northwestern Syria. The airfield is located about 60–70 kilometers from the Turkish border and about 300 kilometers from the Israeli border. According to Syrian military sources, about eight strikes were carried out, damaging runways and storage facilities, and causing damage to infrastructure.

The airfield, which had been out of use since 2013, had served since the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024 as a training center for the new Syrian army and had even undergone rehabilitation with Turkish assistance. Israel confirmed the strike in an official statement from the Prime Minister's Office, which stated that Israel and Syria had agreed to maintain the status quo on security matters, but Damascus was about to violate it by allowing Turkish forces to deploy at the airbase near Aleppo.

Israel had warned repeatedly that such a deployment posed a threat to its security and that Damascus had chosen to ignore the warnings.

"Israel will not tolerate threats to its security and will welcome a return to the status quo," the statement read.

Senior Israeli officials noted that sensitive intelligence had been shared in advance with the United States. This is the first strike of its kind on military assets of the new Syrian government since March 2026, against the backdrop of growing tension between Israel and Turkey over its influence in post-Assad Syria and Israeli concerns about the impairment of aerial freedom of action.

Turkey was among the first to condemn the strike sharply and officially, calling on the international community to take a firm stance. The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement: "We strongly condemn the airstrikes carried out by Israel on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase. Israel continues recklessly with its strikes targeting Syrian infrastructure, while violating its territorial integrity and unity."

The chairman of the Turkish parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Fuat Oktay, called the strike a "flagrant violation of Syrian sovereignty rights" and warned of regional escalation. Ankara rejected claims of intentions to deploy forces at the base and emphasized that its activities in Syria are carried out legally in coordination with the Syrian government. Sharp and uniform condemnations were also recorded in the Arab world.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as an "act of unjustified aggression." Saudi Arabia condemned the strike "in the strongest terms" and described it as a violation of international law while expressing full solidarity with Syria. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry warned that continued violations could undermine efforts for stability in the region. Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait joined the condemnations and emphasized the damage to Syria's territorial integrity.

At the same time, the US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called the strike an "unnecessary escalation that does not contribute to regional stability" and warned of the risk of direct confrontation with Turkey.