Türkiye, Syria consider new military cooperation deal after Israeli strike

Türkiye and Syria may conclude a new agreement on military cooperation following Israel’s attack on the Abu Duhur military airfield in Syria’s Idlib province.

The proposed document would also update protocols for responding to potential threats from Israel, the Turkish newspaper Türkiye reported.

According to Türkiye, Ankara has proposed a number of preventive measures in response to potential Israeli threats, including joint military exercises and continuous patrols of border areas by Turkish AWACS aircraft and fighter jets.

As a medium-term measure, the newspaper also reported that Syria’s airspace could be closed to military flights.

Syria TV previously reported that the Israeli Air Force attacked the Abu Duhur military airfield in Idlib on Aug. 18.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy for Syria and Iraq and the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, told Israeli news channel i24 that the airstrike could have triggered a sharp escalation, potentially leading to a direct military conflict between Israel and Turkey. He said work was underway to establish a deconfliction mechanism between Israel, Syria and Turkey.

Turkey is providing extensive assistance to Syria’s new authorities in reorganising and modernising the country’s armed forces, as well as in training military personnel.

Military cooperation between the two countries is based on a memorandum signed in Ankara in August 2025.

By Tamilla Hasanova