An opinion article on Thursday in the right-wing Israeli paper Israel Hayom has suggested that any Turkish troops in Syria would be considered sitting ducks for Israel, because Nato's collective defence pact would not apply outside a member state's borders.
The piece comes two days after Israeli air strikes destroyed parts of a disused air force base in northern Syria, close to the Turkish border, where Israel believed Turkish troops were on the cusp of moving in.
"Before Turkish troops arrive, the target is infrastructure; once they arrive, striking it also risks Turkish casualties, retaliation, American intervention and confrontation with a NATO member. Those costs alter the calculation, not Israel's authority to decide," Shay Gal, head of government relations and strategy firm Line of State, wrote in the Israel Hayom opinion piece.
Israel, he said, "has studied not only how NATO's Article 5 operates, but where it applies. The treaty protects Turkish territory; Turkish troops do not carry that territory with them onto Syrian or occupied Cypriot soil."
Israel Hayom is published by Miriam Adelson, an Israeli American who is the top donor to Trump, and, by the president's own admission, has considerable sway over his policies towards Israel.
