Israel came very close to war with Turkiye, but no one, not even US President Donald Trump, saw it coming.

Axar.az reports, citing Turkish media, that US Ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack made the remarks.

He said the biggest risk in the region was not Israel’s intentions, but how Turkiye would respond to sudden Israeli moves.

Recalling that the Abu al-Duhur airbase bombed by Israel is located close to the Turkish border, Barrack said Ankara had already been exercising restraint.

However, he noted that it becomes difficult to maintain restraint when military personnel see approaching aircraft without knowing their purpose or intentions. He said this could force Turkiye to scramble its aircraft, adding that regional wars can begin this way even when no one plans for them.

According to Barrack, Israel had received intelligence indicating that Turkiye might move its military assets to the airbase.

He said Washington investigated the information and confirmed that this was not the case. Nevertheless, Israel struck the military base without informing either Washington or Turkiye. According to Barrack, this was the point when the situation moved beyond an Israel-Syria confrontation and began developing into something much more dangerous.

It should be noted that Israeli Air Force jets recently carried out eight strikes on the runway of the Abu al-Duhur military airbase in the eastern part of Syria’s Idlib province.