Israeli strikes hit an air base in northwest Syria, but no casualties are reported

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on an air base in northwest Syria early Tuesday caused material damage without inflicting any casualties, Syrian state TV and officials said.

Eight strikes hit the runway of the Abu Duhur air base in the northwestern province of Idlib, state TV said. Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani told reporters in Damascus that Syria condemns the “Israeli aggression," adding that the strikes were "an unjustified provocation, a violation of Syria’s sovereignty, and a direct threat to regional and global stability.”

There was no comment from the Israeli military on the attack. Officials in Turkey also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said foreign fighters used to stay at the base before they were recently asked to leave. The Observatory added that Turkey, which is a main backer of Syria’s government, has been rehabilitating the air base that had been out of service for years during Syria’s conflict that left nearly half a million people dead.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, posted on X that Washington is “deeply concerned that the confirmed Israeli airstrikes” on the Abu Duhur air base constitute “an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”

The government of Syria's Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has neither “adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces” but has repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel, Barrack said.

The United States has in the past hosted, and will continue in the future to host, discussions to encourage diplomacy, Barrack added.

Since the fall of Bashar Assad’s government in December 2024 when insurgents marched into his seat of power in Damascus, tensions between Israel and Turkey over Syria have been on the rise.

Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria after Assad’s fall, mainly destroying assets of the Syrian army to keep them out of the hands of his successors.

Israeli drone strikes on a southern suburb of Damascus last year killed eight soldiers and wounded others.

The new authorities in Damascus have said they do not want a conflict with Israel, but Israel has remained suspicious of the government led by former Islamist insurgents.