Israel carried out airstrikes on a defunct military air base in northwestern Syria on Tuesday, prompting the United States to condemn the attack as a threat to regional stability in the latest outburst of American frustration with Israel.
Eight airstrikes hit the Abu al-Duhur military air base in Idlib, a city about 40 miles from the border with Turkey, according to the Syrian state media, and did not cause any casualties.
The Trump administration has been a vocal proponent of Syria’s new government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the U.S. special envoy to Syria and Iraq, Tom Barrack, said in a statement on social media that Israel’s actions “constitute an unnecessary escalation.”
“The Al-Sharra government has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces,” Mr. Barrack, who is also the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, added. “It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel.”
Mr. Barrack’s comments followed a series of fractures between Israel and the United States in recent months over the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — once close partners — have taken increasingly different approaches in the region.
Mr. Trump chose to pursue a diplomatic path with Iran to end their war despite Israeli objections. With respect to Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu rejected a U.S.-backed deal for Hamas to disarm this month. Mr. Trump has also backed Mr. al-Sharaa even as Mr. Netanyahu and his allies have voiced extreme skepticism.
Mr. Netanyahu faces a difficult re-election campaign this fall, adding to pressure on him to avoid making any concessions that opponents might seize as evidence of weakness. He has also adopted a more hard-line security doctrine following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, analysts say.
In a statement posted on X, Mr. Netanyahu’s office defended the strikes on the air base, saying, “Israel and Syria agreed to a status quo in security matters, which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo,” a city in northern Syria. The social media post continued, “Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings. Israel will not tolerate threats to its security, and would welcome a return to the status quo.”
Two Syrian government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media, said the strikes followed a recent visit by a Turkish delegation to the airfield as part of discussions to rehabilitate it.
The Syrian air base has been out of service since 2013, and control of the facility changed several times during the nearly 14-year civil war between the government of Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces.
The strikes are part of a broader pattern of Israeli military activity in Syria since rebels led by Mr. al-Sharaa swept into the capital, Damascus, in 2024 and overthrew Mr. al-Assad.
Syria’s new government has rapidly consolidated authority across the country, bringing relative calm after a brutal conflict. Still, that calm remains fragile, punctuated by sporadic attacks from Islamic State and other extremist groups, as well as sectarian tensions that erupted into violence twice last year.
Mr. al-Sharaa has been more open to engaging with Israel than his predecessors, who maintained hostility toward it for five decades. His government has taken part in U.S.-brokered back-channel discussions with Israel aimed at easing tensions — the first such talks in more than a decade. Mr. Barrack played a key role in orchestrating the conversations.
Mr. al-Sharaa’s openness reflects a broader reordering of alliances across the Middle East in recent years. Mr. al-Assad’s government was closely allied with Iran and hostile to Turkey, but the new Syrian government has reversed both relationships.
Still, the back-channel talks have done little to curb Israel’s military activity in Syria.
The Israeli military has launched hundreds of airstrikes on military targets across the country after Mr. al-Assad was ousted and has since deployed forces deep into parts of southern Syria near its border with Israel. Israeli forces have also built nine new military outposts as well as supporting infrastructure like military roads and electricity networks in southern Syria, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, or A.C.L.E.D., a nonprofit organization that tracks global conflict.
The Israeli military’s actions have stoked fears in Syria that Israel is seeking to maintain a long-term military presence in the country, and may expand its operations beyond the southern border areas.
Israeli officials have defended the actions as necessary to ensure that hostile forces such as the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, or the Islamic State, cannot entrench themselves in Syrian territory.
While it is a key ally of the Syrian government, Turkey’s relationship with Israel has deteriorated following the devastating war in Gaza as well as Israel’s interventions in Syria. Last year, Israel struck two air bases in Syria’s Homs Province after Turkish delegations had inspected them for possible use.
Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the attack in a statement on social media, accusing Israel of violating Syria’s territorial integrity and breaking international law.
The Syrian government said that it considered the strikes “an unjustified act of aggression, a flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a dangerous escalation that threatens security and stability in the region.”
Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.