U.S. official Tom Barrack criticized Israel for not giving it adequate warning, an allegation Tel Aviv denied.
Published August 22, 2026
Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, accused Israel of not giving any warning before carrying out a military strike in Syria this week, but insisted Israeli officials did.
Barrack, who called the Israeli attack an “unnecessary escalation,” said in an interview on Friday that the attack on the Abu Duhr military base in northern Syria may have been aimed at “luicing the Turks,” who have significant influence in the region.
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Israeli officials, who have warned Turkiye against supplementing the military presence in Syria, angrily condemned Barrack’s comments.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a social media post on Saturday that Israel had shared “intelligence information with authorized officials in the United States” before Tuesday’s attack.
Israel has stepped up its threats against Turkiye in recent months, viewing it as a potential rival seeking to expand its regional influence. Turkiye’s side condemned the Israeli attack as “reckless.”
Katz accused Barrack’s comments about Israel’s military occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights to be “riddled with inaccuracies and positions that contradict US President (Donald) Trump’s own positions.”
Barrack acknowledged that the territory was occupied, but the first Trump administration recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights in 2019.
The Syrian territory is considered occupied under international law after being captured from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Since the ouster of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, Israel has launched regular attacks in Syria and occupied parts of the southern region.
Since then, Israeli forces have expelled Syrians from their homes in the country’s southwest and set up military infrastructure in the area.
The United States is trying to broker talks between the two countries to calm the situation. Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Shalah, a former al-Qaeda fighter who has forged close ties with the United States and Turkiye, has emphasized that his government does not want conflict with Israel.
Despite occasionally criticizing Israel’s actions in Syria and elsewhere, the Trump administration has not taken any firm steps to pressure Israel to halt its military operations.
President Trump also remains steadfast in America’s policy of near-unconditional support for Tel Aviv, praising Israel as a “great ally.”
Justifying this week’s attack on the Abu Duhr military base, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government feared Turkiye was preparing to send troops to the region and ignored warnings not to do so.
President Turkiye denies such allegations. Barrack said the United States had concluded that any alleged military activity at the base was “not occurring.”
Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani said on Wednesday that his government had clearly communicated to Israel that there were no plans to build a Turkish military base in Abu Duhr.
He added that Turkish military officers visited the facility as part of “ongoing military cooperation in the field of training and exchange of expertise.”
