Head of Mossad and Al-Shaybani discussed the Turkish military presence!

Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Israeli Mossad chief Romi Gofman held a phone call with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shaybani, during which they discussed the Turkish military presence in Syria.

This contact represents one of the highest levels of communication to date between Tel Aviv and Damascus since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2014.

The call, which the sources said took place on August 14, came days before Israel launched air strikes on a Syrian air base in the north on Tuesday.

In this context, U.S. Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack again warned that the strikes targeting Abu al-Duhur Air Base “posed a real risk of rapid escalation into a direct military confrontation between Israel and Turkey, as well as Syria.”

In an interview published by the Jerusalem Post, he added: “The Turkish forces were unaware that Israeli aircraft were en route to that specific Syrian base, nor were they aware of the objective of the operation, so they could have launched their fighters under the assumption that they were under attack.”

For his part, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said that Israel “will not allow hostile forces to position themselves” along its borders.

He added during a visit to the 210th Brigade in the northern zone and a tour of southern Syria that the army had established a “forward defense zone” inside Syria.