Israel claims strikes at Syria's Abu al-Duhur prevented Turkish expansion toward northern border

According to the government announcement, Israeli intelligence had identified that troops from Turkey were going to deploy at the airbase, which is less than 200 miles from Israel.

Israel claimed that the reason for its attack on the Abu al-Duhur military air base in Syria was to stop the Turkish security threat from "becoming something much bigger," a spokesperson from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced in an X/Twitter post on Friday.

According to the government announcement, Israeli intelligence had identified that troops from Turkey were going to deploy at the airbase, which is less than 200 miles from Israel.

The spokesperson also claimed that Israel had warned Syria, and that Syria had received those warnings and "chose to ignore them."

Turkey was a particular threat, the spokesperson added, because of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's repeated threats against Israel and open calls for its destruction.

"He even said about our closest partner, the United States, that a just world is possible, but not with America," the spokesperson said. "Is this the kind of guy you would want on your border?"

Israel holds tiny fraction of Syrian territory, PMO spokesperson says

Israeli forces currently hold only one-tenth of 1% of Syrian territory adjacent to its border, the spokesperson stated, while Turkey has a "substantial military presence" in approximately 5% of Syrian territory.

"More than a year ago, Israel and Syria reached an understanding to maintain the security status quo and to keep this border calm. Syria breached that understanding," the spokesperson said. "Israel welcomes a return to the previous status quo. We are not looking for escalation. But neither Turkey nor any other country is going to threaten the state of Israel."