A US envoy says Israel did not give a warning to the US ahead of a recent Syria air strike

 Israel did not warn the United States before it struck an air base in northern Syria this week, despite fears of an escalation with the U.S. and NATO ally Turkey, the U.S. special envoy to Syria said.

Israel usually closely coordinates its military actions with the U.S., its key backer. Washington has tried to use this influence to moderate attacks as Israel carries out operations in Syria, Gaza and Lebanon.

Tom Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkey, said the attack on Tuesday on the Abu Duhur base could have been Israel “baiting the Turks … that was the serious and worrying part.”

However, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz contradicted the U.S. envoy’s remarks about there being no warning, saying in a statement that Israel decided to alert senior members of the Syrian government. “Simultaneously, we transferred the intelligence reports to the relevant authorities in the U.S.,” Katz added.

In the wake of the strikes, which caused damage but no casualties, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the base was attacked because Syria was “on the verge of breaching” an agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

Barrack said it was likely that Israel had intelligence suggesting Turkey may be bolstering its presence in the area and “a commander somewhere in the field made a decision ‘We’re not going to let that happen’… What they didn’t do is tell us or Turkey.”

He added that another possible reason for the attack on Abu Duhur, around 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the Turkish border, was a miscommunication between the Israeli military and the country’s intelligence agency.

“When they (the Turkish military) see these jets coming towards the border and they don’t know what the purpose, direction or intention is, they start to say ‘We’re going to have to scramble our own,’” Barrack said as he outlined how close Israel and Turkey came to direct confrontation.

In 2015, Turkey had shot down a Russian jet over its Syrian frontier. The ambassador’s comments were published on X late Friday by Mario Nawfal, a Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur.

Barrack also said Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2019 proclamation recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of U.S. policy.