Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on 4 April on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting that his country does not want a confrontation with Israel in Syria.
“Turkey wants no confrontation with Israel in Syria” after the massive wave of attacks Tel Aviv launched on the country in recent days, which have “undermined the new government’s ability to deter threats,” Fidan told Reuters.
The Turkish foreign minister added that Israel’s actions in Syria are paving the way for instability in the region.
He added that if Damascus wishes to have “certain understandings” with Israel, then that is “their own business.”
His comments came one day after a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement called Israel the “greatest threat” to peace in West Asia, condemning dozens of Israeli airstrikes that hit several military sites in Syria on Wednesday.
“Israel has become the foremost threat to the security of our region through its attacks on the territorial integrity and national unity of the regional countries. As a strategic destabilizer in the region, Israel causes turmoil and fuels terrorism,” the statement issued on 3 April reads, which also calls on Israel to withdraw from land it occupied, particularly Syria.
The Israeli air force launched over a dozen airstrikes on various cities in Syria on 2 April, targeting the Barzeh scientific research center just outside Damascus, the Hama military airport in western Syria, and the T4 airbase near Palmyra. The Hama airport was almost completely destroyed.
Israeli airstrikes also hit the countryside of Syria’s southern Deraa governorate.
According to a report by Middle East Eye (MEE) on 1 April, the Turkish military has been preparing plans to take control of the T4 airbase, which had been bombed by Israel several times before the strikes on Wednesday.
Plans included the installation of air defense systems, and construction has reportedly begun already. Turkiye has been illegally occupying Syria since 2016, with its enmity towards Kurdish militant groups serving as the main pretext for its presence there.
It operated two illegal military bases prior to the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government, and is reportedly planning to establish at least two more, which could potentially be used to train the forces of the new administration.
Following the latest Israeli attacks, Israeli Army Radio reported that the “primary goal” of the late-night blitz was to “send a warning to Turkish President Erdogan.”
Hellbound and Down 