DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- 
Israel has confirmed carrying out airstrikes on a Syrian military airbase, despite no threat being posed to it by the extremist-led authorities in Damascus, which fought against Tel Aviv’s adversaries for years.
Israeli officials had earlier told Washington that the strikes were intended to block a Turkish military buildup at the base, Axios reported, citing U.S. and Israeli officials.
The strikes targeted the Abu al-Duhur military airport in Syria’s Idlib province on Tuesday, with Syrian media reporting that eight attacks hit the facility. 
In a statement, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel and Syria had agreed to “a status quo in security matters,” claiming that a Turkish deployment at the facility would have violated that understanding.
Turkey rejected the Israeli justification, describing the “frivolous allegations” as an attempt to legitimize “unlawful” attacks against Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. 
An unnamed Turkish official also denied to Axios that the country was preparing to establish a military presence at Abu al-Duhur, saying there had been no Turkish forces at the site.
U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack praised de fact Syrian president Abu Muhammad al-Jolani and its forces for posing no threat to Israel, as Damascus itself has repeatedly confirmed. 
Barrack later said Washington was working to establish a deconfliction mechanism involving Israel, Turkey and Syria to prevent similar incidents.
The attack comes not long after Damascus’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 It remains unclear to what extent Washington has withdrawn.
Since President Bashar al-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’s government took power.
Turkey has emerged as one of main regional allies of former Al-Qaeda and Daesh deputy Jolani, who now leads the current HTS-led regime in Damascus, providing military and diplomatic support.
The Abu al-Duhur base, located about 70 kilometers east of the Turkish border, has been largely out of service since 2013 and changed hands several times during Syria’s conflict. 
A Turkish military delegation visited the base a day before Israel bombed it to inspect rehabilitation work underway, and left hours before the Israeli attack.
The escalation follows a steady deepening of Israeli military ties with Greece and Cyprus, explicitly aimed at containing Turkey. Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir met his Greek counterpart in a meeting announced on Wednesday, a day after the strike. 
Israeli aggression against Syria is bringing it dangerously close to Turkey’s southern border and raising the risk of a direct confrontation between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Turkish media warned.