Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria and Iraq, on Tuesday criticized Israeli airstrikes on a Syrian airbase as an "unnecessary escalation." Barrack stated that the strikes on the Abu al-Duhur base do not support regional stability. He noted that the Syrian government, led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has expressed a preference for de-escalation rather than maintaining proxy forces or a predatory posture.
The strikes targeted the runway and storage facilities of the Abu al-Duhur base, according to Syria’s state-run Ekhbariya news outlet. Military and civilian sources reported that no casualties occurred. While the base has been out of service since 2013, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that foreign fighters had recently sheltered there, and Turkey has reportedly been working to rehabilitate the facility for future service.
Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shibani called for an end to the strikes, stating at a press conference that the attacks lacked security justification. Conversely, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has previously warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Israel would not permit Syria to increase its military capabilities, which Israel views as a potential threat. Both countries currently maintain a line of communication to prevent direct military incidents while operating in Syria.
The scale of the military activity in the region involves multiple state actors and thousands of personnel across the Middle East. While this specific event involved eight missiles hitting a single non-operational base, the broader context includes previous drone strikes that killed eight Syrian soldiers in Damascus last year. For civilians in the region, such escalations can mean a shift from relative stability to active military engagement, affecting safety and the potential for future infrastructure rehabilitation, such as the efforts currently underway by Turkey at the Abu al-Duhur base.
The precedent of a U.S. official publicly labeling an Israeli military action as "unnecessary" may signal a shift in how the U.S. mediates between its ally Israel and the new Syrian government. Ambassador Barrack indicated that the U.S. intends to host future discussions aimed at establishing "de-escalation agreements." What happens next depends on the timing of these proposed diplomatic meetings and whether Israel continues its policy of striking Syrian targets to prevent military build-ups. No specific dates for these talks have been announced, but Syria has stated it will continue a diplomatic path to discourage further Israeli strikes.