DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Syria on Tuesday, despite no threat being posed to it by the extremist-led authorities in Damascus, which fought against Tel Aviv’s adversaries for years. 
The new Israeli strikes hit the Abu al-Duhur Military Base in the countryside of the northern city of Idlib on Tuesday. Syria’s Foreign Ministry under former Al-Qaeda and Daesh deputy Abu Muhammad al-Jolani described the attack “a dangerous escalation”.
Washington expressed “concern,” with U.S. envoy to Syria and former Epstein associate Tom Barrack calling it “the unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability.”
Barrack instead praised Damascus and its forces for posing no threat to Israel, as Damascus itself has repeatedly confirmed.
He posted on X that the regime of self-appointed Syrian president Jolani “has neither adopted a predatory posture nor maintained proxy forces. It has, in fact, repeatedly indicated a preference for de-escalation with Israel.”
According to Syrian media, eight Israeli airstrikes hit the base. “Israeli occupation aircraft early this morning targeted the runway of the Abu Duhur military airport … with eight strikes,” sources told Syrian television.
The attack comes not long after Jolani’s forces were said to have been given access to Washington’s “final” base in Syria, after a several-month process of U.S. withdrawal from the country following years of occupation. 
It remains unclear to what extent Washington has withdrawn. Iran recently announced operations targeting U.S. forces and assets in Syria. 
The U.S. for years trained extremist forces at its Al-Tanf Base in Syria. It also armed and financed several other factions in Syria throughout the war, including the Noureddine al-Zinki group, responsible for the beheading of a 12-year-old boy as well as other war crimes. 
Many of these Al-Qaeda- and Daesh-linked groups, including the Noureddine al-Zinki movement, are now brigades in the new Jolani army established after the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad’s government. 
This army has killed thousands of Alawites, Druze, and Kurdish civilians since the formation of the new Syrian state – but have not targeted Israeli troops which illegally occupied the country after Assad’s departure.
Damascus has openly declared that it holds no hostility toward Israel and is not looking for confrontation with it. Despite this, Israel continues to attack the country and expand its occupation of Syrian territory.
Since Assad left Syria, Israeli occupation forces have practically encircled Damascus. 
Major Syrian military capabilities belonging to the former army were destroyed by Israeli attacks in the first days after Jolani took power.
Jolani was formerly an Al-Qaeda chief who served as deputy to late Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 
The Syrian president is directly responsible for brutal suicide bombings against civilians and holy sites in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.