US Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barrack said on Saturday that intelligence used to justify an Israeli strike on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in northern Syria was inaccurate.
Barrack, who also serves as the US special envoy for Syria and Iraq, said Israel had received information suggesting that Türkiye could be moving military assets to the airbase in eastern Idlib province and had shared the intelligence with Washington.
The United States subsequently examined the claim through its own intelligence agencies.
“We consulted our intelligence agencies, and the answer we received was that this claim was not true,” Barrack said on social media.
He said he did not know precisely why Israel proceeded with the attack but suggested there could have been “a miscommunication” between the Israeli military, Mossad and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
Barrack also stressed that neither Washington nor Ankara had been informed about the Israeli strike in advance.
His comments follow Syria’s rejection of Israel’s justification for the attack. Damascus has maintained that work at Abu al-Duhur was aimed at rehabilitating the facility for the Syrian Air Force, not establishing a Turkish military presence.
Barrack also praised Türkiye’s armed forces, describing the Turkish military as “strong and brave” as well as well-equipped and highly capable.