Reuters reports, citing three sources, that the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency held a phone call with Syria’s foreign minister on August 14 to discuss Turkiye’s military presence in Syria, just days before Israel bombed a Syrian airbase.
The call between Mossad chief Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani represented one of the highest-level contacts to date between Israel and the Damascus administration led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
According to Reuters, the same sources said that Turkiye’s military role in Syria dominated the conversation, with Gofman raising concerns over Ankara’s expanding military presence, arms sales, and drone deliveries to the Syrian army.
Following Israel’s strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Damascus had been on the verge of allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the facility, despite repeated warnings from Israel that such a move would endanger its security.
Syria has denied the claims.
Turkiye’s Defence Ministry, the Israeli prime minister’s office – which handles inquiries for Mossad– and al-Shaibani’s spokesperson all declined to respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
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Syrian state television is reporting that explosions were heard in the western countryside of Deraa, and authorities are investigating their nature.
ReplyDeleteSyria’s foreign minister says that Israel had no legitimate grounds for striking the Abu al-Duhur airbase this week, rejecting Israeli claims that the site was being used to establish a Turkish military presence.
ReplyDelete“There was no intention to establish a Turkish base there, nor to establish a permanent Turkish military presence or deploy Turkish forces at the site,” Asaad al-Shaibani told Axios. He said the base “was, in fact, largely empty”, adding that work there “was limited to rehabilitating the airfield and its facilities that were damaged during the war” for use by the Syrian Air Force.