Barrack urges tripartite deconfliction after Israeli Syria strikes

US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said that efforts are underway to establish a deconfliction mechanism between Israel, Türkiye, and Syria.

Yesterday, Israeli aircraft carried out eight strikes on Abu al-Duhur Air Base in Idlib, causing material damage.

Barrack, who also serves as the US Ambassador to Türkiye, stated that Türkiye was not warned in advance about the Israeli strikes, saying, “Türkiye therefore observed aircraft heading north toward its own territory and thus could reasonably prepare its own response,” referring to a possible Turkish military reaction.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Barrack said, “Fortunately, cooler heads were able to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.”

Türkiye condemned Israel’s strikes on Abu al-Duhur air base in northwestern Syria, but made no further comment on the matter, including on a potential deconfliction mechanism.

A deconfliction mechanism is a communication channel established between military or political actors to prevent misunderstandings or accidental clashes.

Barrack said Israel’s strikes on the Syrian air base “reflected a perception, whether right or wrong, that Türkiye might increase its presence at that base in the near future,” and continued:

“This situation underscores the need for a deconfliction mechanism involving Israel, Syria, and Türkiye. We are actively working to establish this mechanism in order to prevent future miscommunications. The priority right now is to de-escalate tensions and prepare the ground for a more measured approach.”

The air base, located approximately 70 km east of the Turkish border, has not served as a military airfield since 2013.

Syria and Israel have held several rounds of talks on de-escalation and border issues since forces under the command of Ahmed Shara overthrew Bashar al-Assad, but no agreement has been reached.

Barrack said, “An incident of the kind that occurred this morning demonstrates that these efforts must be intensified and the process broadened.”

The envoy stated that the US is already facilitating an information-sharing and dialogue mechanism between the parties:

“What is required is a more robust structure to which more resources are allocated. Investing in such mechanisms is far less costly than relying on kinetic means of communication, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars.”

An Israeli official told Fox News on Tuesday that Israel had shared “extremely sensitive intelligence” with the US prior to the strike, but provided no further details.

The official said, “Shara understands that he cannot act like the previous Syrian regime that held proxy forces. He may not have understood or known what was happening.”

In a statement immediately following the strike, Barrack had said that the Shara administration “does not maintain proxy forces” in Syria.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later issued a statement claiming responsibility for the strikes.

Arguing that Israel and Syria had agreed “on maintaining the status quo on security matters,” Netanyahu claimed Syria came to the brink of violating this by permitting the deployment of Turkish troops to an air base near Aleppo:

“Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria, however, chose to ignore these warnings.”

The office stated that Tel Aviv warned Syria that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security, adding that it “would welcome a return to the status quo.”

According to Axios, the Syrian government had been aware of Israel’s concerns regarding the base for some time. According to a source familiar with the matter, the Syrian government had sent messages to the Israelis explaining the reasons for rebuilding the runway and emphasising that they had no hostile intentions.

US and Israeli officials stated that the Israelis informed the White House that the purpose of the strike was to deter Türkiye from deploying advanced weapons systems to the air base and to prevent a broader military build-up in the area.

A Turkish official denied Israel’s claims, saying, “There was no Turkish presence at the air base. Israel is inventing pretexts to bomb neighbouring countries and destabilise the region.”

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the strike conducted by Israel, stating that Israel had “violated Syria’s territorial integrity and unity by targeting the country’s infrastructure and military capacity.”