US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack said Israel’s strike on an abandoned Syrian airbase was based on intelligence that turned out to be incorrect.
Barrack, who also serves as the US special envoy for Syria and Iraq, was commenting on the Israeli airstrike on the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in eastern Idlib province.
In a social media post, Barrack said he did not know the exact reason for the attack but shared the explanation provided to him. He said Israel had received intelligence suggesting that Türkiye could be moving military assets to the Syrian airbase and had shared the information with Washington for assessment.
“After consulting our intelligence agencies, we were told that the claim was not true,” Barrack said.
He suggested that the incident may have resulted from “a miscommunication” between the Israeli military, Mossad and the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also stressed that neither the US nor Türkiye had been informed about the attack beforehand.
Barrack described the Turkish military as “strong and brave”, saying it was well-equipped and capable of carrying out its duties.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s office claimed that Turkish troops were attempting to establish a presence at the base and deploy military installations moving south.
Israeli warplanes carried out strikes on the abandoned Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria. There were no immediate reports of casualties or injuries.
According to a Syrian official, Israeli aircraft conducted eight strikes on the facility, targeting its runway and an inactive structure inside a hangar.
