Israel-Syria Tensions

Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Mossad chief Roman Gofman in Jordan on Sunday to de-escalate tensions after Israeli strikes hit the Abu al-Duhur airbase earlier this week.

The two sides discussed establishing a joint operations centre in Jordan under U.S. oversight, according to diplomatic sources, while Shaibani said the door to diplomacy with Israel remains open and that negotiations on a security agreement could resume soon. Israel and Syria agreed to maintain the status quo on security matters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack said Washington is working on a mechanism to prevent conflict between Israel, Turkey and Syria. The proposed security deal would include buffer zones along the Israeli border monitored by the United Nations, Shaibani said, though he acknowledged Damascus currently does not trust Israel.

Syria condemned an Israeli drone strike on a civilian vehicle in the village of Beit Jinn, southwest of Damascus, calling it a blatant violation of sovereignty after at least one person was wounded. The Israeli military said it targeted a militant in the final stages of preparing an attack that posed an immediate threat.

The strike is the second known Israeli attack on Syria this week, following Tuesday's bombing of the Abu al-Duhur airbase near the Turkish border. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Syria was on the verge of breaching a security status quo by permitting Turkish troop deployments near Aleppo, a claim Ankara denied. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack suggested the strike could amount to Israel baiting Turkey ahead of Israeli elections, an assertion Israel's defence minister dismissed as inaccurate.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow in December 2024, while simultaneously expanding its presence beyond the Golan Heights buffer zone.

Turkey's justice ministry has formally requested an Interpol red notice for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli official Afek Moskovitch, escalating a legal dispute stemming from the interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The arrest warrants were originally issued on July 14 by Istanbul's 11th High Criminal Court, which is hearing a case against 35 defendants on charges including genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and aggravated deprivation of liberty.

The case centres on the Israeli military's boarding in May of roughly 50 vessels carrying about 430 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were attempting to break the blockade of Gaza with food, baby formula and medical supplies. The passengers were forcibly taken to Israel and held at Ktziot prison. A red notice is not a binding international arrest warrant but a request circulated through Interpol to locate and provisionally detain suspects.

Netanyahu responded by calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an "antisemitic dictator". The Turkish move follows arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in 2024 against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant. The announcement, made by Justice Minister Akin Gurlek on X, comes amid already strained ties after Israel bombed a military airport in Syria's Idlib province on August 19.