(JNS) Israel’s Aug. 18 strike on the Abu al-Duhur military air base in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, not far from the Turkish border, should not be viewed as just another episode in the increasingly tense relationship between Israel and Turkey. It exposed a much more important question about the state that the new Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is building.
Israeli officials said the strike followed intelligence indicating that Turkey was preparing to deploy military personnel, radar and air-defense capabilities at the base. Ankara and Damascus denied that a permanent Turkish deployment was planned, although Syrian officials acknowledged that a Turkish delegation had visited the facility shortly before the strike.
The dispute over exactly what Turkey intended to place at Abu al-Duhur will continue. But the larger development is already clear: Syria’s military reconstruction is moving beyond speeches, ceremonies and new uniforms. Air bases are being rehabilitated, foreign military cooperation is expanding and the foundations of a new Syrian military architecture are taking shape.
That makes another issue increasingly urgent, because the question is no longer whether...
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