The Israeli Air Force carried out a series of airstrikes targeting the Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase in northwestern Syria’s Idlib Province on August 18, 2026. The surprise attack completely destroyed the runway and warehouses of the base. Tel Aviv has alleged that Damascus recently began repairing the facility that had remained unused for a long time and the Turkish Army is directly involved in this project.

This Syrian airbase holds significant strategic importance; as Turkey lies approximately 70km to the north, the Mediterranean Sea is situated to the west and major Israeli coastal cities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, lie to the south. The infrastructure of Abu al-Duhur collapsed following a rebel attack during the Syrian Civil War in 2013. As a result, the Bashar al-Assad Regime had no other option, but to withdraw forces from there and the base had remained permanently closed since 2015.

However, Syrian President Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa has decided to restore the airbase in 2026. The movement of Turkish troops there increased in the second week of August 2026. Israel sprang into action as soon as satellite imagery, revealing the stockpiling of various weapons and ammunition at Abu al-Duhur, came to light. The Israeli forces targeted the Military Airbase on August 18, 2026, primarily to prevent the perceived Turkish military deployment (rather than in direct response to the newly revealed weapons stockpile).

Just four days after blowing up the runway, an Israeli drone strike hit a vehicle near the village of Beit Jinn, southwest of Damascus, on August 22, 2026, injuring a number of people. However, no one was reportedly killed in the attack. Syria reacted furiously, calling it an unprovoked attack. Syrian state television claimed that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched the drone attack from the direction of the Golan Heights. The IDF, too, confirmed the claim, stating that a notorious terrorist was travelling in that vehicle. Hence, a drone was deployed to eliminate him, based on specific intelligence. However, the man miraculously survived.

The US has strongly condemned Israeli attacks in the rural areas of Idlib and Damascus. Commenting on the issue, US Ambassador to Syria Thomas ‘Tom’ Joseph Barrack Jr stressed that the “unnecessary escalation threatens regional stability“. He also said that Israel gave no advance notice to the US or Turkey before launching the strikes, adding: “Unannounced aircraft movement near the Turkish border brought Israel and Turkey dangerously close to a direct military confrontation.“

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu defended the IDF’s move, saying: “We will not tolerate a Turkish military foothold moving south. Because it threatens us. We made this clear in general. Now, we saw that there was an intention of Turkey to establish itself in an airport south of its line near Aleppo. And we sent a message. The message got through, but apparently, they didn’t hear it. So, we made sure they understood it better.” He also called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an antisemitic dictator, stating that Israel would “continue to act forcefully against Turkey’s attempts to destabilise the region“. “Israel has long been unimpressed by Turkey’s hypocrisy. Erdoğan is an antisemitic dictator who massacred Kurds, supports the massacre of the Hamas terrorist organisation and oppresses his own people,” added Netanyahu.

Turkey, too, issued a statement, mentioning that Israel was committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the area. Ships laden with goods are also being blocked. Consequently, Ankara has requested Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice, seeking Netanyahu’s arrest.

Defence analysts believe that Israel and Turkey will soon be drawn into an armed conflict on the Syrian soil. They are of the opinion that President Erdoğan dreams of re-establishing the old Ottoman Empire by extending his influence over Syria. Hence, he plans to wage a shadow war against Israel with Syrian President al-Sharaa at the forefront. As expected, both Ankara and Damascus officially deny any plans for a shadow war.

Incidentally, Turkey signed a special military agreement, called the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement or the Mecca Agreement, with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan on August 7, 2026. The accord enshrines a collective security arrangement modelled on Article 5 of NATO, with its official announcement stating that “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all“. It enables Saudi Arabia to finance and fund defence projects, Turkey to provide deep tech defence equipment and Pakistan to provide manpower at the frontline.

Read: The coming Turkish-Israeli struggle for supremacy

In such a scenario, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani visited Pakistan on August 19-20, 2026, marking the first visit by a top Syrian official to the South Asian country in 19 years. Consequently, speculation is mounting that Damascus is set to be included in the Mecca Agreement. Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the Chief of the General Staff of the IDF, has made a significant comment in this context. “We are operating in a multi-front reality, in which the challenges are constantly changing and developing – the Syrian arena is one of them. We see what is happening and are monitoring the changes on the Syrian front – we must prepare for them accordingly. We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders, and we will know how to use our operational capabilities precisely where and when needed,” he said.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das