Turkey and Israel Collide in Syria: Both Turkey and Israel have been on a short list of Washington’s closest allies for decades.
With Washington’s enthusiastic support, NATO made Turkey a member in 1952. US leaders regarded the country as the essential guardian of the Alliance’s southeastern flank during both the Cold War and post-Cold War eras. The United States and Israel have had a “special relationship” since the latter’s creation in 1948, and their foreign policy objectives have become ever closer over the decades. Washington has given Israel access to many of the most sophisticated weapons in the US arsenal.
Tensions Among Allies
However, tensions between America’s two close allies are rising, especially as they pursue directly conflicting objectives in Syria. In December 2024, a primarily Islamist rebel coalition led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled Bashar al-Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for five decades.
Writing in Foreign Affairs, Middle East scholars David Makovsky and Simone Sandmehr note that HTS’s leader, Ahmed al-Shara, has taken charge of Syria, and foreign powers hope to steer his behavior. “Two of the country’s neighbors, Israel and Turkey, have taken advantage of the power vacuum by establishing a presence there—and have already begun to butt heads.” Makovsky and Sandmehr said, “Turkey has emerged as the dominant military power in Syria. Since 2019, HTS has held Idlib in Syria’s northwest, and for years, Ankara indirectly assisted it by operating a buffer zone in northern Syria that protected the group from Assad’s forces. Now Turkey wants even more influence in Syria.”
Unfortunately, Israel also wants more influence in Syria and does not trust that Ankara won’t exploit the power vacuum to support a new wave of Islamic militants under Ankara’s control. Makovsky and Sandmehr conclude that “Israeli leaders viewed Assad’s ouster as a strategic windfall and are racing to take advantage of his removal by establishing buffer zones and informal spheres of influence in southern Syria. Israel is particularly concerned by Turkey’s presence in the country because it fears that Ankara will encourage Syria to harbor anti-Israeli militants.”
In early May, tensions flared when Turkish and Israeli warplanes were independently operating at close quarters in the skies over Syria. Israeli planes were attempting to attack militant Islamic forces, while the Turks were endeavoring to interfere with the Israeli strikes and protect those targets.
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported that one civilian was killed and several others wounded in Israeli attacks on the outskirts of Harasta and the city of al-Tall near Damascus during Friday’s bombardment. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority confirmed the Turkish interference, reporting that “Turkish aircraft are sending warning signals and jamming Israeli fighter jets to make them leave Syrian airspace.”
Turkish officials have voiced increasing frustration at Israel’s expanding operations in Syria, which Ankara regards as a threat to its interests and regional stability.
The root of the problem is that both Israel and Turkey are aggressively expansionist powers, and until now, Washington has done little or nothing to discourage such ambitions. US leaders stood by with scarcely a murmur of protest as Israel seized and ultimately annexed Syria’s Golan Heights following the 1967 war.
Subsequent Israeli governments moved settlers into the West Bank, forcibly displacing Palestinian residents and building roads that were exclusively reserved for Israeli settlers and Israeli military vehicles. Israel’s Cabinet just approved a new measure that amounts to de facto annexation of significant portions of the West Bank.
Washington also has actively collaborated with the moves of its ally to dominate Gaza and expel its Palestinian inhabitants. Israel’s expansionist objectives there continue to mount. It now controls 50% of Gaza after creating an enlarged “buffer zone.”
Aggression from Turkey
Turkey has committed blatant acts of aggression against three neighbors, Cyprus, Iraq, and Syria, to secure illicit territorial gains. Turkish troops moved into Cyprus in the summer of 1974, ostensibly to protect Turkish Cypriots, who made up approximately 20 percent of the island’s population and were repeatedly involved in violent confrontations with the larger Greek Cypriot community. On this occasion, Turkish forces expanded outward from their beachhead in the predominantly Turkish areas in the north and occupied ethnic Greek portions throughout the island.
Turkey’s aggression against Cyprus was more brazen and extensive than Russia’s later conduct in Ukraine. Moscow now controls approximately 20 percent of that country. Ankara continues to occupy 40 percent of Cyprus. Widespread anger in Congress about a NATO member committing such a blatant act of aggression led to the imposition of some sanctions against Turkey.
Still, Ankara’s supporters in the Pentagon, the foreign policy bureaucracy, and the defense industry worked to dilute those sanctions from the outset. Within a few years, punitive measures faded away, and cooperation between Washington and Ankara returned to normal. Congress lifted the embargo on sales of arms to Turkey in 1978.
An Israeli Air Force pilot climbs into an F-35I Adir prior to a Red Flag-Nellis 23-2 mission at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, March 16, 2023. Red Flag is an opportunity to build on the success of JUNIPER OAK 23-2, JUNIPER FALCON, and additional combined exercises to enhance interoperability with Israel, strengthen bilateral cooperation, and improve capabilities in ways that enhance and promote regional stability and reinforce the United States’ enduring commitment to Israel’s security. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Trevor Bell)
Cyprus has been the most prominent victim of Ankara’s use of military force to gain control of additional territory, but it is not the only one. After the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime and the establishment of the self-governing Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Turkish military forces have conducted dozens of incursions.
During Donald Trump’s first administration, Ankara took even more extensive action against Kurdish-controlled regions in northern Syria. Although Turkey’s government has not made a formal claim to land in either country, Ankara effectively controls a significant swath of territory beyond its border with both neighbors.
Washington now faces a major dilemma. Israeli and Turkish expansionist objectives in Syria are in direct conflict. It would be nearly impossible for US leaders to satisfy the goals of both allies. And with Israeli and Turkish military aircraft conducting dangerous, provocative maneuvers in the skies over Syria, the situation could get very ugly indeed.
About the Author:
Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow at the Randolph Bourne Institute and a contributing editor at 19FortyFive. He is the author of 13 books and more than 1,300 articles on national security, international affairs, and civil liberties. His latest book is Unreliable Watchdog: The News Media and US Foreign Policy (2022).
