Turkey refutes claims Israel used Turkish base for Syria airstrike

A Russian television news report alleged that Israeli jets took off from Turkey to stage an airstrike on targets in Syria on July 5th. Commenting on the claims, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, "This is an unfounded and completely fabricated news story."

Reports released in the U.S. press over the weekend stating that Israel struck a depot in Latakia which contained Russian missiles on July 5th, has only added a whole new dimension to the issue. The Russian English broadcasting news channel Russia Today (RT) purported that the attack in question was staged by jets that took off from Turkey. Basing the news on a "reliable" source, RT stated, "Our sources tell us that Israeli planes took off from a base in Turkey and then flew over the sea towards Latakia." The report also claimed that allowing the planes to take off in this manner, prevented them from being targeted by Syria.

During an interview on the Turkish news channel NTV, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu refuted the reports from the Russian television station. "There is no way that Turkey would take part in any military operations with Israel," said Davutoğlu, adding, "This is an unfounded and completely fabricated news story." Davutoğlu also noted, "Foreign broadcasting corporations have been trying to discredit Turkey's policy towards the Middle East and Syria by depicting Turkey as being in cooperation with Israel."

Israeli Defense Ministry Spokesman also remarked on the allegations by stating, "We are not commenting in any way on these claims." Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu discussed the issue on CBS television and stated, "Our policy is to ensure that dangerous weapons to not make their way to the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon and other terrorist organizations… I do not have the habit of discussing what we do or do not do." Meanwhile, Syria has not yet released an announcement regarding the July 5th attack.