The exclusive Syrian bases struck the Syrian bases in Turkey, referring to the regional confrontation, say sources

By Suleiman al-Khalidi and Jonathan Spicer

Amman / Istanbul (Reuters) – Turkey has traveled at least three air bases in Syria where it could deploy forces as part of a joint defense pact before Israel hit the sites with air strikes this week, according to the fact that four people familiar with the case.

The bombing reports the risks of a deepening gap between two powerful regional soldiers on Syria, where the Islamist rebels installed a new government after having reversed the former Bashar al-Assad leader in December.

Israeli strikes on the three sites Turkey evaluated, including a heavy dam on Wednesday evening, came despite Ankara’s efforts to reassure Washington that a deeper military presence in Syria was not intended to threaten Israel.

The Islamists replacing Assad alarmed Israel, who is wary of an Islamist presence at its border and has put pressure on the United States to slow down the growing influence of Turkey in the country.

Ankara, a long -standing support for the opposition to Assad, is positioned to play a major role in rebuilding Syria, including with a possible joint defense pact which could see new Turkish bases in the center of Syria and the use of the airspace of Syria.

In preparation, the Turkish military teams have visited the last weeks of the T4 and Palmyra air bases in the province of Homs in Syria and the main airport in the province of Hama, according to a regional intelligence, two Syrian military sources and another Syrian source familiar with the problem.

The sources spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss visits, which have not been reported before.

The Turkish teams have evaluated the state of the tracks, hangars and other infrastructure in the bases, said the regional intelligence manager.

Another visit scheduled for T4 and Palmyra on March 25 was canceled after Israel struck the two bases a few hours in advance, according to the regional intelligence manager and the two Syrian military sources.

The T4 strikes “destroyed the track, the tower, the hangars and the planes that were anchored. It was a difficult message that Israel will not accept the extended Turkish presence,” said the intelligence manager, who examined the photographs of the damage.

“T4 is completely unusable now,” said a fourth Syrian source, close to Turkey.

Asked about the visits, a manager of the Turkish Defense Ministry said: “Reports and positions concerning developments in Syria – whether real or alleged – which do not come from official authorities should not be taken into account, because they lack credibility and can be misleading.”

A spokesperson for the Syrian Defense Ministry refused to comment.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey called on Israel on Thursday “the greatest threat to regional security”. Friday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hakan Fidan, told Reuters Turkey did not want any confrontation with Israel in Syria.

Heavy strikes

During the four months which followed an reversal of Assad, Israel seized the field in southwest Syria, made openings at the Druze minority and struck a large part of the weapons and heavy equipment of the Syrian army. Wednesday strikes have been among the most intense to date.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Israel had struck five separate areas in a 30 -minute window, causing the almost total destruction of the Hama base and injuring dozens of civilians and soldiers.

Israel said that he had struck the T4 air base and other military capacities in the air bases in the provinces of Hama and Homs, as well as military infrastructure in the Damascus region.

The Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz qualified the air strikes a warning that “we do not allow the security of the state of Israel”. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Ankara of seeking a “Turkish protectorate” in Syria.

The Noa Lazimi, a specialist in Middle East policy at Bar-Ilan University, said ISRAEL feared that Turkey could establish Russian anti-aircraft systems and drones in T4.

“The base would allow Turkey to establish air superiority in this area, and this poses a serious concern for Israel because it undermines its operational freedom in the region,” she said.

“Ideological collision course”

Turkey has tried to reassure the United States that it wants to work towards stable Syria.

Foreign Minister Fidan told US officials in Washington last month that Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa would not be a threat to neighbors, according to a higher regional diplomat close to Turkey and a source in Washington informed the meetings.

Fidan and other Turkish officials had previously told Sharaa that Ankara carefully calibrated her movements to a defense pact so as not to Irk Washington, said one of the Syrian military sources.

“Turkey, and not Israel, would pay the highest price among the regional states where there was a failure or destabilization in Syria, including with refugees and security,” an AK party official in power in Turkey told Reuters.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute’s thinking group, said Turkey and Israel followed an “ideological collision course”, but could avoid military climbing by mediation with Washington.

(Report by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Jonathan Spicer in Istanbul; additional report from Maya Gebeily to Beirut, Emily Rose in Jerusalem, and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara; writing from Maya Gebeily, edition by Aidan Lewis)