WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been lobbying U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to block the sale of F-35 warplanes to Turkey, citing concerns over Ankara’s growing influence in Syria, three sources, including two senior western officials, told Middle East Eye.
Netanyahu raised the F-35 issue during multiple calls with Rubio in March and April, the two western officials said. A third source familiar with the matter confirmed that Netanyahu had pressed Rubio on the arms sale.
Netanyahu has privately said he will push Trump against the F-35 sale but has yet to discuss it with him. The Zionist premier met Trump at the White House on Monday, his second visit this year.
Netanyahu has a slew of files to address with Trump. However, the Zionist regime and Turkey’s rivalry is heating up in Syria.
Last week, the occupying regime bombed three military bases in the country - including Syria’s Tiyas air base, also known as T4. The strikes came as Israel saw a limited window of opportunity to attack the bases before Turkey moved its military assets in.
MEE revealed previously that Turkey is deploying a Hisar-type air defense system to the T4 base.
Turkey’s control of the bases is part of a pending defense pact that Ankara and Damascus have been negotiating since December. The agreement would see Turkey provide air cover and military protection for Syria’s new ruling system, which currently lacks a functioning military.
Netanyahu and his advisors see Rubio as a strong ally in trying to stop Turkey from acquiring F-35s, the western officials told MEE.
Rubio is one of the top Turkey hawks in Trump’s cabinet. He was one of the few American officials to express concern over the arrest on 19 March of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu. The imprisonment of Imamoglu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top rival, sparked mass protests in Turkey.
Amid fallout over the arrest, Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Trump held a “really transformational” phone call with Erdogan, saying there was “just a lot of good positive news coming out of Turkey right now”.
The sources told MEE that Netanyahu has raised the F-35 issue with Rubio several times, including on a call that took place before Rubio hosted his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in Washington DC on 25 March.