The head of Israel’s spy agency held a phone call with Syria’s foreign minister last week during which they discussed Turkey’s military presence in Syria, three people familiar with the matter said, just days before Israel bombed a Syrian airbase.
The August 14 call between Mossad spy agency chief Roman Gofman and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is one of the highest-level contacts yet between Israel and the Damascus administration led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Israeli prime minister’s office, which handles queries regarding Mossad, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did a spokesperson for Shaibani.
After Israel attacked the Abu al-Duhur airbase on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Damascus was on the verge of permitting Turkish troops to deploy there, and had ignored Israel’s repeated warnings that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel’s security.
The sources said the issue of Turkish military support for Syria dominated Gofman’s call with Shaibani four days earlier.
The call centred on “Israeli inquiries about what (Turkey) was doing in terms of increasing their military presence, as well as the sale of weapons, provision of drones and other issues”, one of the sources said. A second source, a senior official, said Gofman used the call to ask about Turkey’s provision of arms to Syria’s army.
