The bombs over Abu Duhur: A warning shot at Ankara

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Turkish and Israeli flags in Tel Aviv, Israel June 26, 2016. [REUTERS/Baz Ratner]https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2016-09-21_Israeli-Turkish-flags.jpg" style="margin-bottom: 15px;" width="1200" />
The runway at Abu Duhur had been quiet for many years.

Old MiG jets were corroding in the Syrian dust in the north of the country – relics of the civil war that ended when Assad fled to Moscow.

On 18 August, in the middle of the night, eight Israeli bombs broke this silence.

No casualties occurred.

Perhaps this was precisely the point.

This was not the strike to kill.

The strike sent a message, not to Damascus but to Ankara.

Israel’s version was simple.

The Turkish delegation visited this base just a day before. “On the verge of breaching the status quo agreed with Israel on security matters,” Netanyahu’s office claimed that Syria allowed Turkish soldiers to establish themselves […]

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