Israel strikes an air base in Syria to prevent Turkish troops from deploying

This is a locator map for Syria with its capital, Damascus. AP Photo hide caption

DAMASCUS, Syria — Israel struck an air base in northwest Syria early Tuesday, saying it aimed to prevent Turkish troops from deploying there.

Turkey, which has close ties with the Syrian government and has been providing assistance to Syria's military, has tense relations with Israel. The rival countries have sought to curb each other's influence in neighboring Syria.

Eight strikes hit the runway of the Abu Duhur air base in the northwestern province of Idlib, causing damage but no casualties, state TV said. Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani told reporters in Damascus that Syria condemns the "Israeli aggression," adding that the strikes were "an unjustified provocation, a violation of Syria's sovereignty, and a direct threat to regional and global stability."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that Israel had attacked the base because Syria had been "on the verge of breaching" an agreed-upon "status quo in security matters" by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there.

"Israel repeatedly warned Syria that such a deployment would pose a threat to Israel's security. Syria chose to ignore these warnings," the statement said.

The Foreign Ministry of Turkey condemned the attack in a statement and called for "the international community to take a more decisive stance to end Israel's escalating aggression against Syria and to ensure accountability for these actions that disregard international law."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said foreign fighters used to stay at the base before they were recently asked to leave. The Observatory added that Turkey, which is a main backer of Syria's government, has been rehabilitating the air base that had been out of service for years during Syria's conflict that left nearly half a million people dead.