Turkey won’t abandon Syria or let Israel draw ‘red lines’, Erdogan says

Turkey won’t abandon Syria or let Israel draw ‘red lines’, Erdogan says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded on Monday to Israeli strikes on a Syrian military base last week, saying Ankara would not abandon its friends in the region and that no outside power could set the boundaries of Turkish foreign policy. Israel carried out several strikes on the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in northern Syria, approximately 70km from the Turkish border, claiming that Ankara was preparing to deploy air defence systems there. Israeli officials have repeatedly said that the Turkish military's use of airbases in Syria would constitute a "red line," arguing that such a presence could restrict Israel's freedom of action in Syrian airspace.