Israel-Turkey rivalry bursts into the open over Syria strikes

{"text":[[{"start":10.64,"text":"Turkey and Israel have traded accusations after the Israeli bombing of a Syrian air base near the Turkish border intensified a growing power contest between two of the Middle East’s strongest militaries."}],[{"start":23.64,"text":"Ankara on Wednesday hit out at Israel over its strikes from a day earlier on the Abu al-Duhur base, which drew rare criticism from US envoy Tom Barrack for what he described as an “unnecessary escalation”."}],[{"start":37.68,"text":"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office accused Syria of being on the verge of breaching an agreed security “status quo” by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base. Israel had “repeatedly warned” Damascus that such a deployment would threaten its security, Netanyahu’s office said."}],[{"start":55.44,"text":"But the office of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed the claim about Turkish deployments to the base as “untenable”, saying it stemmed from Israel’s desire to pursue “expansionist and destabilising policies” ahead of the country’s elections in October."}],[{"start":70.6,"text":"The attack highlighted the increasingly incompatible Turkish and Israeli visions for Syria, as well as the wider region."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":78.36,"text":"Turkey is one of the principal backers of the government of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former militant Islamist who led the rebel offensive that ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024."}],[{"start":90.88,"text":"Ankara has provided military training, equipment and logistical support to Damascus to rebuild state institutions shattered by Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, which left half a million people dead."}],[{"start":103.32,"text":"But Israel sees Sharaa’s government, which is dominated by his Islamist faction, as a threat. It has conducted widespread strikes in the country since the overthrow of Assad, destroyed much of the former regime’s military infrastructure and occupied positions in southern Syria."}],[{"start":119.84,"text":"Israel has also objected to Turkey — which has maintained thousands of troops across northern Syria following successive interventions during the civil war — establishing military infrastructure that could restrict its freedom of action, especially in Syrian airspace."}],[{"start":134.84,"text":"Abu al-Duhur air base in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, a rebel holdout during the civil war, had been largely out of service for more than a decade but was undergoing rehabilitation."}],[{"start":143.76,"text":"A Turkish delegation had visited the facility, which is about 70km from the Turkish border, to inspect the work just hours before the Israeli strikes, according to Turkish media."}],[{"start":154.52,"text":"Relations between Israel and Turkey, which has Nato’s second-biggest army after the US, began to deteriorate in earnest in 2024 over the former’s war in Gaza, with Ankara suspending bilateral trade."}],[{"start":167,"text":"But their differences have since escalated, particularly over Syria."}],[{"start":171.32,"text":"In June, amid Israeli military operations in Syria and Lebanon, Erdoğan declared that “Turkey’s security . . . begins from Aleppo, it begins from Damascus, it begins from Beirut”. He added: “We will turn a blind eye to no attack against our brothers.”"}],[{"start":187.32,"text":"Israel has increasingly portrayed Turkey’s expanding regional role as a security challenge of its own, with some Israeli politicians and analysts even dubbing Turkey the “new Iran”."}],[{"start":197.24,"text":"Ahead of the October 27 election, with Netanyahu’s governing bloc trailing in the polls, the prime minister’s Likud party has erected campaign billboards showing Erdoğan alongside Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, Hizbollah leader Naim Qassem and New York mayor Zohran Mamdani."}],[{"start":213.52,"text":"“They want Netanyahu to lose,” the billboard says. “Don’t let them win.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":217.6,"text":"Gallia Lindenstrauss, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said Israeli concerns about Turkey stemmed from Ankara’s increasingly hostile rhetoric and its expanding regional military ambitions and capabilities."}],[{"start":231.36,"text":"Earlier this month, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a joint defence agreement under which an armed attack against any of them would be deemed an attack against them all."}],[{"start":241.8,"text":"Turkey also maintains the Qatar–Turkey Combined Joint Force Command in Doha, with an estimated 3,000 troops stationed there, and a Somali Turkish Task Force Command in Mogadishu, with more than 500 troops."}],[{"start":254,"text":"“It’s one thing if Turkey . . . is only involved in northern Iraq and northern Syria,” Lindenstrauss said. “It’s a different thing if Turkey has a base in Qatar and a base in Somalia and a growing presence in Syria and has advisers helping to build up the Syrian army.”"}],[{"start":268.48,"text":"Ankara and its Arab allies increasingly view Israel’s military operations in the region as destabilising."}],[{"start":275.4,"text":"Abu al-Duhur is not the first Syrian military facility linked to Turkey that has been attacked by Israel. Israeli strikes last year badly damaged Hama military airport and military sites in Homs that Ankara had reportedly considered using."}],[{"start":290.6,"text":"“Turkey will resolutely continue to co-operate with the Syrian government on a legitimate basis for the establishment of peace, stability and prosperity in Syria,” Erdoğan’s office said on Wednesday. Turkey “will never allow the destabilisation of Syria”, it added."}],[{"start":310.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1787196503_8654.mp3"}