By Eman Alam
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned the unprovoked attack carried out by Israeli occupation forces on Abu al-Duhur Airbase in Syria’s Idlib.
Israel carried out airstrikes against the Abu al-Duhur base near Aleppo on Tuesday near the Turkish border and said Syria was on the verge of permitting Turkish troops to deploy there.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said that such provocative actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law, and have the potential to further undermine regional peace and stability.
“Pakistan expresses its unwavering solidarity with the brotherly people of Syria, and reiterates its full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as peace and prosperity of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the statement stated.
The Foreign Office also said that Pakistan calls on the international community to play its role in ending repeated violations of international law by the Israeli occupation forces, and to hold it accountable for its destabilising actions in the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said late on Tuesday that Syria was on the verge of violating a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters”
by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the airbase, adding that such a deployment would threaten Israel’s security and it would not tolerate this.
In response, Turkey’s presidency said the “imputations” from Netanyahu’s office stemmed from his intention to pursue “expansionist and destabilising policies” ahead of elections in Israel, adding that lasting regional peace could only be achieved if Israel respected international law and abandoned its “aggressive and coercive policies”.
The strikes on Tuesday follow worsening security tensions between Israel and Turkiye and increasingly sharp rhetoric between the two countries over Syria, where both countries’ militaries are active.
Turkiye, which has Nato’s second-largest army and has emerged as one of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s main allies, accuses Israel of trying to destabilise Syria and undermine its new administration, repeatedly calling for international pressure and measures on Israel to respect Syria’s territorial integrity.
Tom Barrack, the US special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq, told Reuters after the Tuesday strikes that Washington was working to establish a deconfliction mechanism among Israel, Turkiye and Syria, and added the US already facilitates an information-sharing and dialogue mechanism among the parties.
