Israel-Turkey tension escalates Syria

The increasing confrontation between Israel and Turkey because of the influence in Syria is a serious challenge for a fragile new government in Syria.

On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two airports – Hama Military Airport and the T4 base near Homs.

The Syria Foreign Ministry said the bombing had virtually destroyed the Ham's base. A prominent Syrian human rights group said four Ministry of Defense officials were killed and a dozen other people were injured.

Air strikes hit SyriaBut their real goal was Turkey.

Shortly thereafter, the Israeli Foreign Minister accused Turkey of playing a “negative role” in Syria, and Israel's defense minister warned Syria's intermediate president Ahmed al -Sharaa that he would “pay a very heavy price” if he allowed “hostile forces” to enter their country.

Ankara is currently negotiating a joint defense pact with the new Sharaa government and there are widespread reports that Turkey is moving to airplanes and air defense systems in Syria and Aleppo's airbases.

Some analysts compare Israel's intensive airplane at the Hama Airport this week with much shorter bombing on the edge based on T4, suggesting that Turkey may have moved some equipment there And this Israel calibrates its attack to avoid complete escalation.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have dived on the nose since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, with Ankara introducing trade restrictions and blaming Israel in genocide.

This regional tension is now being played on a new basis in Syria.

After the air strikes on Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry has accused Israel of destabilizing the region as “both chaos and terrorism eating and said it is now the biggest threat to the security of the region.

But Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters news agency that his country is not seeking a confrontation with Israel and that Syria can determine its own policy with its southern neighbor.

The new leader of Syria has repeatedly signaled that he is not looking for a confrontation with Israel. Shortly after President Bashar al-Assad passed in December, he told the BBC that Syria would not be a threat to any country.

He even left the door open to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel in the future, telling the economist last month that Syria wants peace with all parties, but it is too early to discuss such a sensitive issue.

Its main priority from the acceptance of power is to unite bitterly divided Syria and to soothe external relations with its neighbors while he cemented his power and control.

But Israel has not done so easy. His military interventions in Syria nourish conflict with both external forces such as Turkey and internal groups such as jihadists to the south of the country.

Once an unacceptable enemy of the former president of Syria and his Iranian ally, Israel is also suspicious of Sharaa, a man who once led the Syrian branch of al -Qaeda and whose new government is supported by Turkey.

Ever since he took power, the military in Israel has repeatedly poured shops for Syrian weapons, airports and other military sites left by the former regime to avoid falling into enemy hands, the statement said.

It also occupied a demilitarized buffer zone, created after the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, and sent forces on the Syrian side of the nearby mountain, placing nine bases in the area.

Israeli troops also make regular invasions in the southwestern provinces of Syria, promising to prevent the presence of any armed groups or government forces there.

Earlier this week, local authorities in the southern city of Deraa said nine civilians were killed in Israeli bombing, during the deepest invasion of the Israeli forces so far.

Another four people were killed in Israeli firing near a village who at the end of last month after local artillerymen tried to stop the advance of Israeli forces there.

Since then, the mosques in both Draa and Damascus have summoned for jihad against Israeli forces.

Charles Lister, Syria's leader in the US-based Middle East, which has been studying the region, has reported more than 70 invasions in southwestern Syria since February, describing this as “an extremely dangerous moment-and-unnecessary”.

After Assad's fall four months ago, he said that no attack had directed Israel from Syria, the country's security forces had crossed “at least 18 weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon and dismantled at least eight former Iranian missile sites.”

Many Syrians are disappointed with Israel's response to their new government. They watched years when Israel was directed to the Assad regime and believed that the fall of Assad would bring the chance for less confrontation with Israel.

Some say the view is changing now.

“We believed that the Israeli army was only aimed at Assad's regime,” says Ismail, the owner of a restaurant in the western part of the country. “But her continuing, incomprehensible bombing, unfortunately, makes us think that Israel is the enemy of the Syrian people.”

Syria is vulnerable because its internal units are easily inflamed by regional and global interventions. The roots of the sectarian conflict take place deep here, nourished for decades of repressive governance by the Assad family, members of the Syrian minority in Alavit.

Ahmed al-Sharaa's attempts to calm the country's minorities were interrupted in early March by an explosion of violence in the coastal region of Syria-fortress of the former regime.

At least 1000 civilians or disarmed fighters were killed by pro-government forces after government units were planted in a coordinated attack led by the remains of the former armed forces in Syria.

These former armed forces were once supported by Iran. Some analysts believe that their remains can still receive some support from Tehran.

The Syrians celebrated the fall of Bashar al -Assad as the end of their civil war and a chance to unite.

But the foreign forces have helped to nourish this civil war for more than a decade and its neighbors are now watching the vacuum left by Assad. The risk is increasing that Syria will again be the victim of the conflicts of external forces played on the Syrian soil.