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.

The call, which the sources said took place on August 14, marks one of the highest-level contacts yet between Israel and the new Syrian government since the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.

Both Turkey and Syria reacted angrily to the airstrike, which Damascus said caused material damage but no casualties. The strike was also condemned by US Ambassador Tom Barrack, who called it an “unnecessary escalation.”

Condemning the strike, Syria’s foreign ministry said that it “has exercised restraint and worked to consolidate........

© The Times of Israel