On August 18, Israel bombed a Syrian airbase, claiming Türkiye was about to deploy military forces there, a claim Ankara and Damascus deny. Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, said the strike, which was conducted just hours after a Turkish delegation had departed the airfield, “carried a real risk of rapid escalation into a direct military confrontation between Israel and Turkey as well as Syria.”
The reality is Türkiye and Syria are engaged in economic cooperation aimed at reconstructing the Syrian economy. The latest evidence of this is the visit of Türkiye’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar to Damascus where he met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Aug. 19 where they signed agreements for cooperation in the fields of energy and mining.
”[W]e had the opportunity to assess the new era we have initiated between our countries in the fields of energy and mining, as well as opportunities for cooperation,” Bayraktar wrote on X after the meeting. Türkiye is advancing the approach of President Erdogan, which he said is solution-oriented, dialogue-based, and centered on humanitarian sensitivities. “We believe that the partnerships we have built on a foundation of mutual trust will serve as a catalyst for establishing lasting peace, stability, and shared prosperity in our region.”