The United States said “deeply concerned” by Israeli airstrikes against the Abou Douhour airbase, in Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, on Tuesday August 18. Tom Barrack, US special envoy for Syria and Iraq, declared on X that these strikes constituted “an unnecessary escalation”which did not contribute to regional stability.
“Israeli occupation planes targeted the runway of the Abu Douhour military airport early this morning (…) with eight strikes »said an unidentified military source cited by Syrian state television. “The attack caused material damage to the airport infrastructure, without causing any casualties”added this source.
The airport, which suffered significant damage during the Syrian civil war, has been out of service since 2012, according to the same security source cited by Agence France-Presse. He is currently protected by Syrian Defense Ministry forces.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against Syria since the December 2024 overthrow of President Bashar Al-Assad by a coalition of Islamist groups. The Israeli military also deployed troops to the UN-monitored buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, claiming to have established a “safety zone” which it intends to maintain.
“Rational dialogue”
Mr. Barrack, also US ambassador to Türkiye, said the government of Ahmed Al-Sharaa had not “neither adopted an aggressive posture nor maintained auxiliary forces” and that he had, on the contrary, repeatedly expressed his preference for de-escalation with Israel.
Washington explained that it would continue to host discussions to encourage both parties to favor the diplomatic route. The United States therefore calls on all parties to show restraint and to prioritize “a rational dialogue” rather than new military incidents.
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “condemned in the strongest possible terms the Israeli airstrikes”calling them“unjustified act of aggression”. He called on the international community and the UN Security Council to “take a firm stance against Israel’s repeated violations of Syrian sovereignty”. Israel did not immediately comment.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO based in the United Kingdom and with a vast network of sources in Syria, these strikes took place after “the visit, in recent days, of a Turkish military delegation to the airport as part of ongoing efforts to return it to service”.
Turkey, whose relations with Israel have been terrible since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, is a key ally of the new Syrian authorities. Syria, on numerous occasions, has condemned Israeli operations on its territory, and demanded the withdrawal of the troops that Israel has deployed there. However, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated last week that his country would maintain forces there.
