Mossad Chief Called Syria's Foreign Minister Days Before Israel Bombed Syrian Airbase

Israel's spy chief was on the phone with Syria's foreign minister discussing Turkish troop movements four days before Israeli jets bombed a Syrian airbase, according to three people familiar with the call.

The 14 August conversation between Mossad director Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani marks one of the highest-level known contacts between Israel and the Syrian government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who took power after Bashar al-Assad's fall in 2024.

This wasn't a routine diplomatic check-in. According to one of the sources, Gofman used the call to press Damascus on "what Turkey was doing in terms of increasing their military presence, as well as the sale of weapons, provision of drones and other issues." A second source, described as a senior official, said Gofman specifically asked about Turkey's arms shipments to the Syrian army. A third source confirmed the call happened and that Turkish military presence was the topic.

Four days later, Israel struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase. Netanyahu, in a video posted to X, said Damascus had been on the verge of letting Turkish troops deploy there despite what he called repeated Israeli warnings. "We made it clear to Turkey. Don't," Netanyahu said. "Apparently they didn't hear the message, so we made sure they understood it better."

Intelligence first, airstrikes second

The sequence is worth sitting with. Israel's spy agency, not its foreign ministry or military spokesperson, was the one running point with Damascus on an issue that Netanyahu then cited as justification for bombing Syrian territory. That points to a pattern where Mossad functions as the forward channel for shaping outcomes on Israel's northern frontier, gathering intelligence and pressing foreign governments directly, with airstrikes following once the diplomatic track produces the answer Israel doesn't want to hear.

Neither the Israeli prime minister's office, which handles Mossad-related queries, nor a spokesperson for Shaibani responded to requests for comment. Turkey's defense ministry declined to comment and its foreign ministry did not immediately respond.

Turkey has emerged as Damascus's closest regional backer since Assad's fall, having supported rebel factions during the civil war, a shift that has visibly unsettled Israeli officials watching Turkish influence grow along their border.

The Turkish presidency pushed back hard on Netanyahu's version of events, calling Israel's claims "untenable allegations" and accusing Israel of trying to legitimize "unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity." Ankara said it would keep working with the Syrian government toward stability, but notably did not address whether any troop deployment to Abu al-Duhur had actually been planned.

Washington, for its part, is uneasy about being caught between two allies. US Ambassador Tom Barrack, who also serves as special envoy for Syria and Iraq, told Reuters the Israeli strikes were "an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability," and said the US is trying to build a formal deconfliction mechanism between Israel, Turkey and Syria, on top of an information-sharing channel it already runs among the three.

Sharaa, who has cultivated ties with Washington, said in July that Syria was pursuing a security agreement with Israel and trying to rally other countries to push Israel toward a more balanced policy on Syria. The Gofman call suggests that even as that diplomacy proceeds in public, Israel's intelligence service is working a separate, quieter track, one that appears to have ended in bombs.