Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has accused Israel of trying to destabilize Syria, saying that regular Israeli strikes are hindering the country's recovery, AFP reports.
"Syria was giving hope to the region and the whole world, suddenly a player appears who seeks to destabilize the country. You know the name of that player, Israel," Fidan said during a joint press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Asad al-Shaibani in Damascus.
According to the Turkish minister, Israel's policy is the "most serious obstacle" to positive changes in Syria. He mentioned the attack on the abandoned Abu-Dukhur air base in the northwest of the country as one of the last examples.
Israel struck the airbase last month, saying it was aimed at preventing the deployment of Turkish soldiers there. Ankara denied that Turkish officials had visited the facility.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on Syrian territory since the December 2024 toppling of President Bashar al-Assad by forces led by current Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Turkey provides considerable support to the new Syrian authorities.
In addition, Israel has deployed troops into the UN-monitored buffer zone in the Golan Heights, which previously separated Israeli and Syrian forces, and regularly conducts operations in other areas of Syria. The Israeli authorities announced their intention to maintain the military presence in the country.
Ash-Shaibani called Abu-Dukhur's attack a "destructive message" aimed at disrupting the process of building the Syrian statehood. According to him, the attack "has neither legal nor legal justification", but it does not affect the relations between Syria and Turkey.
The Syrian minister stated that Damascus' position on Israel's actions remains "hard and unchanged" and demanded the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories occupied after the fall of the Assad regime.
At the same time, Israel and Syria held several rounds of direct negotiations. The last meeting took place last month in Jordan, after the Abu-Dukhour coup.
Fidan also said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intends to visit Syria in the near future, without specifying the date of the visit.
