Turkey's NATO protection does not apply to troops in Syria: Israeli daily

NATO's collective defense pact, which states that an attack on one member of the US-led military alliance is an attack on all, does not apply to Turkish troops in Syria, says an opinion piece in a right-wing Israeli newspaper.

Israel Hayom published the commentary on Thursday, two days after Israel bombed the decommissioned Abu al-Duhur military air base in northwestern Syria, claiming it had acted after the ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime allegedly moved toward allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

"Before Turkish troops arrive, the target is infrastructure; once they arrive, striking it also risks Turkish casualties, retaliation, American intervention and confrontation with a NATO member. Those costs alter the calculation, not Israel's authority to decide," Israeli strategic advisor Shay Gal wrote in the article.

Tel Aviv "has studied not only how NATO's Article 5 operates, but where it applies. The treaty protects Turkish territory; Turkish troops do not carry that territory with them onto Syrian or occupied Cypriot soil," he added.

Gal also warned that Turkey's close security relations with the HTS regime pose a threat to Israel.

"Ankara trains Syrian forces and rebuilds military institutions. In 2025 Turkish military teams examined T4, Palmyra, and Hama as sites for Turkish military depth. Israel subsequently struck those facilities."

Following Tuesday’s attack, the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that Tel Aviv and Damascus had agreed to maintain the security status quo, “which Syria was on the verge of breaching by permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an air base near Aleppo”.

Israeli warplanes bomb Syrian airbase hours after Turkish military visit

Israeli military aircraft have purportedly carried out four strikes against the runway of Abu al-Duhur military airbase near Idlib in northwestern Syria.

However, HTS foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Turkish military officers had recently visited the Abu al-Duhur air base, but denied any plans for a Turkish military deployment.

He told the US news site Axios that “there was no Turkish military build-up at the base in any sense that would justify such an interpretation.”

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Defense Ministry denied that a Turkish military delegation had visited the air base ahead of Israel’s strikes on the site.

US ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Syria Tom Barrack called the Israeli attack an "unnecessary escalation". 

Syria has witnessed repeated Israeli strikes and ground incursions following the collapse of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024.

Israel has also set up numerous checkpoints in Syria and abducted its citizens. The usurping entity has further expanded control over the occupied Golan Heights, taking over a demilitarized buffer zone in violation of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.

The UN and various Arab countries have censured Israel for exploiting the disorder in Syria to acquire land.

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