Israel conducts fresh strike in Syria after US criticism

Israel carried out a fresh strike in Syria on Saturday and criticised US envoy Tom Barrack for condemning an earlier attack on an air base in the northwest, which Israel says Turkey was seeking to use.

The exchange has deepened tension between Washington and Israel over the widening Syria conflict.

Why did Israel strike Syria again?

Israel struck Syria after Defence Minister Israel Katz rejected criticism from Barrack, who had called Tuesday's earlier strike on a disused military air base an unnecessary escalation. Israel maintains the base strike targeted an attempt by Turkey to establish a presence there, a claim Ankara denies.

Barrack made the initial remarks on Tuesday, describing the attack as one that "does not advance regional stability." In an interview with influencer Mario Nawfal on Friday, he suggested the strike may have been intended to provoke a conflict with Turkey, prompting Katz to call the remarks "full of inaccuracies" on Saturday.

What has Israel said about its strikes in Syria?

Since the December 2024 overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria and sent troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that had separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights for decades. Katz wrote on X on Saturday that Israel had passed on intelligence to authorised parties in the United States before Tuesday's strike.

He added that Barrack's comments were "full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict the stance of US President (Donald) Trump himself regarding the Golan Heights," after Barrack described the territory as occupied. Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, a move recognised only by the United States and, this month, Colombia.

How has Turkey responded to the Israeli strikes?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Turkey, an ally of Syria's new authorities, had been looking to establish a military presence on the air base struck on Tuesday. Ankara has denied any visit to the site, and the two countries have since traded escalating accusations.

Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have exchanged sharp criticism since the incident, with Ankara announcing it was seeking an Interpol red notice for Netanyahu over the interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Netanyahu's office called Erdogan an "antisemitic dictator," while Erdogan's office dismissed the remarks as "outrageous ravings" and accused Netanyahu's government of "seeking to evade accountability."

What happened in the latest strike near the Golan Heights?

Syrian state television said on Saturday that a man was wounded when an "Israeli occupation drone" targeted a vehicle in the village of Beit Jinn, southwest of Damascus near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Syria's foreign ministry called the strike a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty.

Israel's military confirmed the strike, saying its forces had fired in southern Syria at "a terrorist who advanced terror attacks in the final stages of preparation," without identifying the target. Israel has carried out repeated incursions into Syrian territory and has vowed to maintain troops in a so-called security zone in southern Syria while pursuing a broader demilitarised area.

This week, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir told troops in southern Syria that Israel was monitoring changes on the Syrian front. "We will not allow hostile forces to establish themselves on our borders," he said.