Turkey says it will not fall into Netanyahu’s trap after Israeli strikes in Syria

Turkey has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to further destabilise the Middle East following an Israeli strike on a Syrian airbase, saying Ankara will not fall into his “trap”.

Israel struck the Abu Zuhur airbase in Syria’s Idlib province last week, claiming Turkey was seeking to deploy troops there. Both Turkey and the United States rejected the claim.

In a statement on Thursday, Turkey’s presidential office said Ankara had enough experience to avoid falling into what it described as Netanyahu’s trap.

“Netanyahu’s goal is to undermine peace and stability in our region,” the statement said.

The Israeli strike damaged the airbase’s runway. Israel later claimed that a Turkish military delegation had visited the base several hours before the attack. Turkey rejected the claim that its troops had been deployed there.

A Syrian monitoring group said the Turkish delegation had visited the base only to assess plans for its reconstruction.

Netanyahu, however, said Turkish forces had visited the airbase and described their presence as a security threat to Israel.

“Turkey’s military will come towards the north. We will not accept this because it poses a threat to us,” he told Israel’s Army Radio.

SKS