Syria's Ruins: The New Arena for Neo-Imperial Power Plays
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The Facts of the Abu al-Duhur Incident
The geopolitical tinderbox of the Middle East has ignited another flashpoint, this time over the ruins of the Abu al-Duhur airbase in Syria. Earlier this week, the Israeli Air Force conducted a strike on this facility. The stated rationale from Jerusalem was a preemptive action against a perceived threat: intelligence suggesting Syria was on the verge of permitting Turkish military forces to establish a presence at the base. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unequivocal, stating a warning had been delivered and, in his view, ignored. Defence Minister Israel Katz escalated the rhetoric further, directly accusing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of engaging in “dangerous adventures.” The core Israeli position is that a Turkish deployment so close to its area of operations in Syria constitutes an unacceptable security threat, violating an established “status quo.”
However, the narrative from Damascus and Ankara paints a starkly different picture. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani has categorically denied any plans for a permanent Turkish base or military deployment at Abu al-Duhur. According to his account, the site was being rehabilitated for the Syrian Air Force’s own use, with Turkish military officers providing training and cooperation—a far cry from a forward operating base. Turkey itself has strongly rejected Israel’s allegations. This fundamental disconnect—between an Israeli preemptive strike based on a threat perception and a Syrian denial of that very threat’s existence—lies at the heart of the current crisis.
The Broader Context: A Collision of Visions
This incident is not an isolated event but a symptom of a much deeper and more dangerous strategic rivalry unfolding in the ashes of the Syrian conflict. Two competing visions for Syria’s future are now on a direct collision course. On one side is Turkey, which has emerged as the principal external patron of the post-Assad administration in Damascus. Ankara’s strategy involves substantial investment in Syria’s reconstruction, military training, and state-building. For Turkey, a stable, sovereign, and capable Syrian state is a critical buffer and a cornerstone of its own regional security architecture.
On the other side is Israel, whose primary objective in Syria has been to prevent the consolidation of hostile forces—be they Iranian, Hezbollah, or now, potentially Turkish—near its borders. Israel seeks to maintain a high degree of freedom of action to conduct military operations within Syrian territory against targets it deems threatening. From this perspective, the rehabilitation of the Syrian military, especially with the backing of a powerful NATO member like Turkey, is not a stabilization effort but the potential creation of a new, more formidable threat matrix.
The United States, represented by Special Presidential Envoy Tom Barrack, finds itself in a familiar yet precarious role as a reluctant mediator. Washington’s concern is the risk of miscalculation and escalation between two of its partners. The proposed “deconfliction mechanism” is a technical fix aimed at preventing accidental clashes, but it is utterly incapable of addressing the underlying philosophical and strategic chasm between Ankara and Jerusalem.
Opinion: The Global South as a Chessboard for Imperial Ambitions
This escalating tension between Turkey and Israel over Syria is a textbook case of neo-imperial power dynamics playing out on the soil of the Global South. Syria, a nation brutally devastated by over a decade of war fueled by external interventions, is once again denied the fundamental right to determine its own security arrangements. Its airspace is violated, its territory is struck, and its sovereign decisions are preemptively countered by a foreign state acting as judge, jury, and executioner. The Israeli strike, based on an intelligence assessment that Damascus itself contradicts, is a breathtaking assertion of hegemony. It communicates a simple, brutal message: Syria’s sovereignty is contingent upon and subordinate to Israel’s unilateral definition of its own security needs.
The hypocrisy of the so-called “international rules-based order” is laid bare for all to see. Where are the UN Security Council resolutions condemning this violation of territorial integrity? Where is the universal outrage from Western capitals that so readily lecture others on sovereignty? The silence is deafening because the perpetrator is a favored ally of the imperial core. This is the same selective application of law that has historically been used to subjugate the ambitions of civilizational states like India and China, punishing them for seeking their own security and developmental paths outside the approved Western framework.
Turkey’s role here is complex and reveals the multi-faceted nature of resistance to this imposed order. While Turkey is a NATO member, its actions in Syria—supporting the government, opposing Kurdish factions backed by the West, and now clashing with Israel—demonstrate an increasingly independent and assertive regional policy that often runs counter to Atlanticist designs. From the perspective of the Global South, Turkey’s attempt to foster a stable Syria represents a challenge to the West’s preference for managed chaos and permanently weak states in the region. A strong, sovereign Syria is antithetical to the divide-and-rule strategies of neo-colonialism.
Israel’s posture, while framed in the language of existential threat, must be understood within this broader imperial context. Its security doctrine has long been underwritten by unconditional Western, particularly American, support, allowing it to operate with impunity. The warning against Turkish involvement is not merely about troops on the ground; it is about rejecting any power center in Syria that is not subservient to or aligned with its own strategic calculus. It is an attempt to enforce a regional security architecture where Israeli primacy is unchallenged, and neighboring states remain in a perpetually weakened, pliable condition.
Furthermore, the Western narrative often deliberately conflates all resistance to this imposed order with terrorism or instability. The genuine efforts of a nation like Turkey to engage in regional stabilization through state-building are immediately cast through the lens of threat perception by the established hegemon. This is a familiar tactic used to discredit any alternative model of development or security cooperation that originates outside the Western sphere of influence.
Conclusion: Sovereignty or Servitude?
The dispute over Abu al-Duhur airbase is a microcosm of a global struggle. It is a struggle between sovereignty and servitude, between the right of nations in the Global South to rebuild and determine their own alliances, and the “right” of imperial powers to veto those choices in the name of their own security. Syria today stands as a grim monument to what happens when a nation becomes the chessboard for others’ games.
The path forward is fraught with danger. The U.S. deconfliction mechanism is a band-aid on a arterial wound. The fundamental issue remains unreconciled: Turkey’s vision of a sovereign, rebuilt Syria versus Israel’s vision of a compliant, neutralized space. Until the international community, particularly those nations of the Global South with growing influence, begins to forcefully champion the principle of unconditional sovereignty and reject the hypocrisy of selective enforcement of international law, Syrians will continue to pay the price. The ruins of Abu al-Duhur are not just a damaged airbase; they are a warning. They warn of a world where might makes right, where the security of the powerful forever trumps the sovereignty of the vulnerable. Breaking this cycle is the defining geopolitical challenge of our time, and it starts with calling out incidents like this for what they truly are: not counter-terrorism, not self-defense, but the brutal mechanics of neo-imperial control.