LONDON: Israeli attacks on post-Assad Syria are nothing new. But when Israeli jets bombed a Syrian airbase last week, even Washington sat up and took notice — and issued a strongly worded, and very public, reprimand. Despite repeated reassurances from Damascus that Syria poses no threat to Israel, the Israel Defense Forces have struck multiple Syrian military targets since the overthrow of President Bashar Assad in December 2024, ostensibly to prevent them falling into the hands of “terrorists.” Then, on Aug. 18, Israeli jets attacked Abu Al-Duhur airbase near Idlib in northwest Syria.

Unannounced Israeli jets near the Turkish border could easily have triggered a clash, in a high-stakes ‘warning’ to Ankara.

According to Barrack, Ankara began considering scrambling its own fighter jets, and for several moments, two key US allies came close to a confrontation that neither side truly…