Erdogan: Russia, Iran, Syria must take measures against Israel after alleged Damascus strike

Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan speaks at a human rights-themed event hosted by his Islamist AKP political party in the Turkish capital of Ankara, August 5, 2024. (Screen capture: X/Türkiye Canlı, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Russia, Syria and Iran should take more effective measures to protect Syria’s territorial integrity, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, when asked about Israel’s recent alleged strike on Damascus.

“We will defend an urgent and permanent peace in Syria… Israel is the most concrete threat to regional and global peace,” Erdogan said in an interview with Turkish media.

“It is essential that Russia, Iran and Syria take more effective measures against this situation, which poses the greatest threat to Syria’s territorial integrity,” according to a readout of the interview from the Turkish presidency.

An alleged Israeli airstrike on Damascus on Tuesday targeted a top Hezbollah official who is part of a unit tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to the terror group in Lebanon, according to a Saudi report.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency claimed seven civilians were killed and 11 others were wounded in the strike, which hit a residential and commercial building in the Mezzeh district of the capital a few hundred meters from the Iranian embassy. Multiple reports said the targeted building was linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Erdogan has been heavily critical of Israel ever since its war with Hamas broke out on October 7 last year with the terrorist organization’s massive attack in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Throughout the war, Erdogan has accused Israel of genocide and of seeking war with other countries in the region.

He has also repeatedly compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler and recently called Israel a “Zionist terrorist organization,” urging the United Nations to endorse the use of force against Israel.

In July, Erdogan even issued an open threat to invade Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli-Turkish relations have been shaky over the years, but the two countries agreed on normalization in 2022, reappointing ambassadors after years of tensions.

Since the beginning of the war, however, tensions have once again dipped with Turkey recalling its ambassador to Israel in November and halting all trade with Israel in May.