AMMAN — Jordan and eleven Arab and Islamic countries on Friday condemned Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Abu Al Duhur military airbase in northwestern Syria.

 

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Jordan, Algeria, Indonesia, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Turkey expressed deep concern over Israel’s “continued” attacks on Syria.

 

They said that such attacks risk undermining Syria’s efforts to restore security, rebuild national institutions and address the humanitarian consequences of years of conflict.

 

The ministers said that Israel’s attacks violate international law and the UN Charter and pose serious threats to regional stability and security.

 

Syria said on Tuesday that Israel had attacked a disused military air base in the country's northwest on Tuesday.

 

"Israeli occupation aircraft early this morning targeted the runway... with eight strikes," Syrian state television quoted an unidentified military source as saying.

 

The ministers also called for full respect for the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from areas they have occupied, stressing the need to prevent further escalation and safeguard regional peace and stability.

 

They also reiterated the importance of respecting Syria’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and political unity and rejected any attempts to undermine them.

 

Israel has been carrying out incursions into Syrian territory since the December 2024 overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar Al Assad, including sending troops into a UN-patrolled buffer zone that separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights since 1974.

 

Israel carried out a fresh strike in Syria on Saturday and lambasted US envoy Tom Barrack for criticising an earlier attack on an air base in the northwest, which Israel has accused Turkey of seeking to use.

 

US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Tuesday slammed Israel's attack on the disused military air base that day as an "unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability".

 

On Friday, in an interview with influencer Mario Nawfal, Barrack said the strike may have been intended to provoke a conflict with Turkey, prompting Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz to hit back on Saturday, calling the remarks "full of inaccuracies".

 

Katz wrote on X on Saturday that Israel had passed on "intelligence information to the authorised parties in the United States" before the strike on Tuesday.

 

He added that Barrack's comments were "full of inaccuracies and positions that contradict the stance of US President (Donald) Trump himself regarding the Golan Heights", after Barrack called the territory "occupied".

 

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the areas under its control, in a move only recognised by the United States and, this month, also Colombia.