AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Thomas Barak, the U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, referring to the recent Zionist regime attack on a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border, revealed that the movements of Israeli fighter jets could have triggered a military response from Ankara and escalated tensions between Turkey and Israel.
Barak told Reuters that Turkey had received no prior notification of the Israeli attack, and after observing Israeli aircraft moving northward toward its territory, "could have reasonably prepared to respond."
This U.S. official emphasized that "cooler heads" prevented the situation from worsening, and added that Washington is establishing a mechanism to prevent confrontation between Israel, Turkey, and Syria.
These remarks came after the Zionist regime, in eight airstrikes early Tuesday, targeted the Abu al-Zuhour military airport in the eastern countryside of Idlib; an airport that has been out of service for years and is occupied by protection forces affiliated with Syria's Ministry of Defense.
Israel's Claim About the Deployment of Turkish Forces
Simultaneously, Benjamin Netanyahu's office claimed that Syria was on the verge of allowing the deployment of Turkish forces at an airbase near Aleppo, and considered this action a threat to the Zionist regime's security.
Netanyahu's office claimed that Israel had previously repeatedly warned Syria about such a deployment, but Damascus had ignored these warnings.
U.S.-Israel Intelligence Sharing Before the Attack
Meanwhile, Fox News, citing an Israeli official, reported that the attack on the Abu al-Zuhour base was carried out following the exchange of sensitive and classified intelligence between Israel and the highest levels of the U.S. government.
This Israeli official also claimed that Ahmad al-Shara, the head of Syria's transitional phase, cannot act like the previous Syrian government, which, according to him, deployed its allied forces on Syrian soil.
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