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Israel and Turkey have been holding direct discussions on Syria to avoid the risk of a military confrontation, according to two sources cited in a report on Middle East Eye, a UK-based news site affiliated with the Qatari-Turkish position.
According to the report, Israel attacked military sites in Syria last week, including the air bases at Aleppo and the T4 base, at the exact time that Ankara intended to dispatch a technical team to examine the bases and present a preliminary review before they would be rebuilt.
The sources said that Netanyahu informed his government that there was a small window of opportunity to target the bases before Turkey moves assets into them and once those assets were there, Israel would not attack the bases.
Turkey was in the process of taking over the T4 base to deploy intelligence gathering and attack drones, Middle East Eye said. It is also intended to install the Hisar aerial defense system and a multi-level defense to deal with threats from aircraft, drones or missiles. Turkey planned to include the Russian-made S-400 defense system in place until the rebuilding of the base is complete.
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"Netanyahu believes there has been progress in the talks with Turkey," the report claimed. "Turkish and Israeli officials made similar statements at the same time and said they were not looking for confrontation over Syria. That seems to have been coordinated," the report said. "The U.S. remains the final arbitrator on Syria and it seems that the administration wants Israel and Turkey tensions, deescalated."
At the White House on Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he liked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has a wonderful relationship with him. He told Netanyahu who was sitting by his side as he answered reporters' questions, that he, Trump, would help resolve any issue that the prime minister might have with Turkey.