US envoy Barrack calls for halt to Israeli strikes in Syria

DOHA — US Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria and Iraq Tom Barrack publicly challenged Israel's military operations in Syria on Tuesday, suggesting Washington may need to intervene to halt the strikes. He spoke at the Global Security Forum, according to the source report.

"It's time to stop this," Barrack said at the forum. "I don't know whether it's time for the United States to intervene to stop it."

Barrack pointed to an August 18 Israeli strike on runways at the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria. According to Barrack, the strike was carried out to prevent Turkey from establishing a military foothold at the site. He said neither Washington nor Ankara received advance notice of the operation. That, he said, created the potential for a direct confrontation between Israeli and Turkish forces.

"Turkey could have scrambled its aircraft quickly, and suddenly we would have found ourselves in an entirely different situation," he said.

Barrack also said he believes Israel is too smart to enter a real confrontation with Turkey, and that neither side wants a direct war.

On Syria's internal affairs, Barrack praised President Ahmed al-Sharaa's handling of the transition in Damascus. He cited efforts to integrate Kurdish leaders into state institutions. He stressed that political cooperation must be matched by a clear economic path.

Barrack also questioned the effectiveness of military action against the Houthis in Yemen. He challenged what the "Mecca alliance" would deliver in practice. "Will Turkey deploy ground forces alongside Saudi Arabia? Will it provide drones free of charge?" he asked. He said that the United States would not commit troops to a ground campaign, which he described as "futile", despite President Trump's logistical support for Saudi Arabia.

On Iran, Barrack identified deep mutual distrust between the United States and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a central obstacle to resolving the conflict and nuclear crisis. Asked whether going to war in Iran had been a mistake, he said: "I don't know whether it's a mistake or not, but every time we have tried to intervene and replace the individual or the regime, it seems to have been a mistake."

Barrack maintained that Washington is not abandoning the Middle East. In his view, it is changing how responsibility is shared across the region.

Background

Barrack's remarks concern Israeli military operations in Syria. The source report does not give further details of the August 18 strike or of any response from Israel or Turkey.

The source report also includes a commentary line calling for Barrack to be replaced, describing him as "seriously anti-Israel". That line is an opinion from an unnamed author and is not attributed to any official. It is not reported here as fact.