Illustrative image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
United States President Donald Trump blocked an Israeli request to carry out strikes in Syria as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sought to strengthen Turkey’s military presence in the country with the approval of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Israel’s Channel 13 reported on August 14.
According to the report, Turkey has made significant efforts in recent weeks to consolidate its influence in Syria, while Israel sought U.S. approval for another attack in the country.
Nevertheless, unlike previous occasions, Trump prevented the planned Israeli strikes against Syria from going ahead, the report said.
Channel 13 described the development as another sign of deteriorating relations between Israel and the U.S. while pointing to increasingly close ties between Trump and Erdogan.
Last year, a series of Israeli strikes hit several key bases in western and central Syria, with later reports revealing that the attack was meant to prevent Turkey from establishing a presence there in cooperation with Sharaa and his Islamist-led government in Damascus.
A recent report described an expanding Turkish military presence in western Syria, in particular along the coast, although there is still no official confirmation from Damascus or Ankara.
Israel’s relations with Turkey worsened as a result of the war in the Gaza Strip, and while the fall of the regime of former president Bashar al-Assad in Syria led to talks with Damascus, efforts to reach a security agreement have so far failed, and there have been reports of deepening Israeli worries over Syria’s new government.
Last week, the U.S. brokered an agreement between Damascus and the UN nuclear watchdog, allowing the latter to extract nuclear material from a hidden facility in Syria. The agreement was reportedly reached after Israel threatened to attack the facility, known as “Site 99.”
There have also been reports of concerns in Israel over Syria’s efforts to rebuild its air force, especially after a pair of Soviet-era fighter bombers were spotted flying over the country after being restored. The Israeli defense establishment is practically worried that this could threaten its freedom of action in Syrian airspace.
The concerns over the leftover nuclear materials or attempts to revive the air force are not related to the latest report by Channel 13, which focuses on Turkey’s military presence in the country.
This shows that Israel now sees several threats emerging from Syria, and while Trump has succeeded in blocking any military action for now, this may not happen again.
Although Syria is indeed enthusiastic about an agreement with Israel, this remains highly unlikely. Israel has repeatedly rejected demands to withdraw from the territories it occupied in southern Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, and recent developments indicate that it completely lacks trust in Syria and views Damascus’s growing alliance with Ankara as a threat.
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