Intelligence behind Israeli strike on Syrian base was wrong: US envoy

US Ambassador to Ankara Tom Barrack has said the intelligence behind an Israeli attack on a military air base in northern Syria was wrong.

Barrack, who also serves as the US special envoy for Syria and Iraq, commented on Israel’s air strike on the abandoned Abu al-Duhur Military Air Base in eastern Idlib province.

Barrack said on social media that he did not know why the attack was carried out but shared the information he had received about the incident.

He said Israel had received intelligence that Türkiye might be moving military assets to the air base and had shared the information with Washington.

The US investigated the intelligence, Barrack said, adding that its agencies found the claim was not true.

“We consulted our intelligence agencies, and the answer we received was that this claim was not true,” Barrack said.

He also said there may have been “a miscommunication” among the Israeli army, Mossad and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Barrack stressed that neither the US nor Türkiye was informed of the attack in advance.

He described the Turkish army as “strong and brave”, saying it was “very well-equipped and knows its job well”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his office had said Turkish soldiers were trying to establish a presence at the base and deploy military installations moving southward.

Israeli warplanes attacked the abandoned Abu al-Duhur Military Air Base in eastern Idlib. No information was immediately available on casualties or injuries.

A Syrian official said Israeli warplanes carried out eight attacks on the base, targeting the runway and an inactive structure inside a hangar.