Two Messages from Ankara to Israel: We Won’t Take the Bait, We Won’t Allow It

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s description of Israel’s strike on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase, near Syria’s border with Türkiye and undergoing repairs, by Israeli jets early on the morning of August 18 as a “message to Türkiye” in a statement to the Israeli Army Radio’s podcast service on the evening of August 18, further heightened Ankara’s unease over Israel.
The detailed messages from Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran to Anadolu Agency reflect this unease unequivocally.

Duran links the increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Türkiye by Netanyahu and his ministers to two main factors, also taking into account the Israeli opposition’s criticism that he is “playing with fire”:

– An effort to win the October 27 elections by tying them to the prospect of a conflict with Türkiye,
– An intention to turn his growing international isolation into a sense of victimhood.

The two messages conveyed in this context are also clear:
– Türkiye will not fall into the trap set by Netanyahu, who would not hesitate to set the region ablaze for his own political future,
– But it will not allow “anyone to disturb the peace of our nation and our friends,” either.

Ankara: Netanyahu’s election campaign

Ankara’s effort not to place the tension on an Israel-Türkiye axis but to keep it within the framework of Israel’s attacks on its neighbours, such as Syria and Lebanon, is noteworthy.

This is also partly due to an effort to suppress its anger and grit its teeth until the Israeli elections.

Because Ankara sees the increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Türkiye by Netanyahu and his ministers in recent times as part of the public campaign for the October 27 elections. If Netanyahu loses the election, he could also face trial on bribery charges.
Another aspect is that the Israeli elections will take place exactly one week before the November 3 midterm elections, which are important for US President Donald Trump’s political future. Netanyahu wants to use this situation to put pressure on Trump through the powerful Israel lobby in Washington.

President Tayyip Erdoğan’s warning to US President Donald Trump about Israel’s “recently increasing actions” during their telephone conversation on August 17 also amounts to a message of “stop Israel.” A day earlier, on August 16, Erdoğan had told Al Jazeera that “Türkiye does not want war, but it will not shy away from it either.”

In short, Erdoğan is aware of Netanyahu’s effort to draw Türkiye into a conflict with Israel.

Enter National Defence

The Ministry of National Defence denied reports that a Turkish military delegation had been present at the Abu al-Duhur military airbase before Israel struck it. It is true that the report originated from Syrian authorities and, indeed, on the same day, August 19, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, responding in writing to questions from the US-based news site Axios, denied that Türkiye had been given a military base, while saying that a Turkish military delegation had been at Abu al-Zuhur a few days earlier for construction-related activities, but that is not the main point.

The main point is another sentence used by Rear Admiral Zeki Aktürk, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defence, at his August 19 press briefing while referring to Israel’s attacks on Syria and Lebanon:
• “Under no circumstances should the perception be allowed to take root that Israel’s military interventions against neighbouring countries are normal and acceptable.”

This call is in line with the Foreign Ministry’s call a day earlier for the international community to take a firm stance against Israel’s aggression.
Communications Director Duran’s latest statement takes this a step further.

Timeline of the Syria attack

Reuters reported that Mossad chief Roman Gofar held a telephone conversation with Syrian Foreign Minister Shaibani on August 14 and warned that they did not want to see a Turkish military presence in Syria.
Shaibani came to Türkiye on August 15.
He met Barrack in İstanbul on August 16.
That same evening, Erdoğan told Al Jazeera: “We do not want war, but we will not shy away from it.”
On August 17, Trump praised the Mecca Agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
That same evening, Erdoğan spoke with Trump and delivered the message: “Stop Israel.”
A few hours later, as the day turned to August 18, Israel struck Syria. The Foreign Ministry reacted, and Barrack denied Israel’s allegations.

Barrack’s statement on August 19 that they had sent Türkiye a message through the attack on Syria is also described in Ankara as a provocation in light of these developments.

There is another reason why Ankara sees Israel’s latest attack on Syria as an “open provocation.”

Israel violated the deconfliction protocol

In 2025, Türkiye and Israel reached an agreement on a “deconfliction line” that cut Syria in two horizontally around Hama, under a protocol mediated by Azerbaijan. According to this arrangement, Türkiye and Israel would inform each other whenever they crossed this line, thereby preventing conflict.

A source who provided information to YetkinReport pointed out that this time Israel violated the protocol by failing to give prior notice.

Behind US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack’s statement that Türkiye had not been informed and therefore had the right to take countermeasures, including scrambling its jets, lies this violation of the protocol.

In the end, it all comes down to whether the Trump administration in the US can make the Netanyahu government in Israel listen to it.