Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted on Wednesday that Israel had already warned Turkey against any military activity in Syria before Israel bombed an airbase that Ankara had been eyeing, while sources told Reuters that the Mossad chief discussed the issue last week with the Syrian foreign minister.
Speaking in a podcast interview a day after Israel struck a military airbase in northwest Syria, Netanyahu said that Israel will not tolerate a Turkish military buildup “that descends south because it threatens us.”
Warning Turkey against such military activity in Syria, Netanyahu simply said “Don’t,” in English.
“The message was conveyed but apparently they didn’t hear it, so we made sure they understood it more clearly,” he added.
Meanwhile, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that Mossad chief Roman Gofman held a phone call last week with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in which they discussed Turkey’s military presence in Syria.
