Prime Minister Netanyahu defends Syria attack as Israel’s major general issues overshadow threat to Türkiye
We heard more from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday about Israeli attacks on military air bases in Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the attack and reiterated that Turkey, a U.S. ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and one of Israel’s biggest regional adversaries, intended to send troops to the area.
“We will not tolerate Turkey’s military buildup that threatens us south. We have made that clear to the public,” Netanyahu said in a video released by his Likud party. “We then confirmed and conveyed the message that Turkey intended to deploy to an air base south of that front, near Aleppo.”
“How do I explain it?” he continued, adding that the message was “stop.”
Tom Barrack, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Syria, on Tuesday criticized Israel’s actions as an “unnecessary escalation that does not promote stability in the region.”
Turkey rejected Netanyahu’s claims as “unacceptable,” citing his “intent to pursue expansionist and destabilizing policies in the region” and Israel’s elections scheduled for October.
But on Wednesday, Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued a secret warning to Turkey during a meeting with Israeli forces in Syria. “While we must stop the escalation of the terrorist threat, we must also prevent the formation of a serious military threat on our borders,” Zamir said.
He did not explicitly mention Türkiye in his comments. “We know how to leverage our operational capabilities precisely when and where we need them,” Zamir added.
