After Israel strikes Hamas leaders in Qatar, Turkey worries it may very well be subsequent

[ad_1] ISTANBUL, Turkey — An Israeli strike on a gathering of Hamas chiefs in Qatar has forged a cloud of rising concern throughout Turkey that it may very well be the positioning of Israel’s subsequent strike on the leaders of the Gaza-based terror group.

Turkish Protection Ministry spokesman Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk warned in Ankara on Thursday that Israel would “additional broaden its reckless assaults, because it did in Qatar, and drag your complete area, together with its personal nation, into catastrophe.”

Israel on Tuesday performed an airstrike towards senior Hamas leaders who don't reside within the Gaza Strip and have been holding a gathering within the Qatari capital, Doha.

Israel and Turkey have been as soon as robust regional companions, however ties between the international locations bumped into difficulties from the late 2000s and have reached an all-time low because the Hamas terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 individuals, taking 251 hostages and sparking the continued battle in Gaza.

Tensions even have risen as Israel and Turkey have competed for affect in neighboring Syria. Islamist-led rebels, backed by Turkey, toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad final yr, and Jerusalem has repeatedly expressed considerations about their intentions.

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By signing up, you conform to the terms Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian trigger and of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of Israel.

Hamas officers commonly go to Turkey and a few have taken up residence there. Israel has beforehand accused Turkey of permitting Hamas to plan assaults from its territory, in addition to to recruit and fundraise there.

This handout {photograph} taken and launched by the Turkish Overseas press service reveals Turkish Overseas Minister Hakan Fidan (fifth R) assembly with Muhammad Ismail Darwish (fifth L), head of Hamas Shura Council and his delegation, in Istanbul on August 1, 2025. (Photograph by Handout / TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)

The Turkish president has criticized Israel, and significantly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with strident rhetoric because the begin of the battle, accusing Israel of genocide and likening Netanyahu to Nazi chief Adolf Hitler.

Israel vehemently rejects any accusations of battle crimes, and says that it complies with worldwide legislation.

Hamas officers commonly go to Turkey and a few have taken up residence there.

Erdogan is near Qatar’s leaders and Turkey maintains robust army and business ties to the emirate. He is because of journey to Qatar this weekend for an Arab and Muslim leaders’ summit.

The summit was known as in response to Israel’s bombing in Doha final week. Israel has stated that the Hamas leaders attacked in Doha have been accountable for the October 7 assault and have been an obstacle to ending the battle. It has vowed to proceed focusing on them.

This seize from video footage launched by Qatar TV reveals males carrying the flag-draped our bodies of six individuals killed in an Israeli strike on Hamas figures two days earlier, contained in the Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab Mosque in Doha on September 11, 2025. (QATAR TV / AFP)

“Israel’s means to conduct strikes with seeming impunity, typically bypassing regional air defenses and worldwide norms, units a precedent that deeply worries Ankara,” stated Serhat Suha Cubukcuoglu, director of Developments Analysis and Advisory’s Turkey program.

Turkey sees these assaults as a “broader Israeli technique to ascertain a fragmented buffer zone of weak or pacified states round it,” he added.

After Hamas launched its 2023 assault from Gaza, different Iran-backed Islamist terror teams — together with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen — additionally attacked Israel with months of missiles and drones.

Israel finally largely destroyed Hezbollah, earlier than a November 2024 ceasefire ended open battle; performed a collection of strikes on Houthi infrastructure; and preemptively attacked Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile websites, which Jerusalem described as posing an imminent, existential menace to Israel.

Turkey has superior army would possibly In crossing a beforehand unthinkable line by attacking inside Qatar — an in depth American ally that has been serving as a mediator in talks on a ceasefire in Gaza and the discharge of the hostages nonetheless held by terror teams there — Israel additionally has raised the query of how far it'll go in pursuing Hamas targets.

By way of its NATO membership, Turkey would appear to have a better diploma of safety towards Israeli assault than that afforded to Qatar by its shut ties to the USA.

Turkey additionally boasts considerably better army would possibly than the Gulf state, with its armed forces second in measurement solely to the US amongst NATO international locations and a sophisticated protection business.

A Turkish military soldier stands guard on one in every of two army ships crusing within the Mediterranean Sea, heading from the port of Mersin, Turkey, to the port of Beirut to ship support and evacuate Turkish residents from Lebanon, Wednesday, October 9, 2024. (AP Photograph/Emrah Gurel)

As tensions rise, Turkey has boosted its defenses. In the course of the Israel-Iran battle in June, Erdogan introduced a rise in missile manufacturing. Final month he formally inaugurated Turkey’s “Metal Dome” built-in air protection system, whereas initiatives such because the KAAN fifth-generation fighter have been fast-tracked.

Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the German Marshall Fund in Ankara, stated an Israeli airstrike on the territory of a NATO member could be “extraordinarily unlikely,” however small-scale bomb or gun assaults on potential Hamas targets in Turkey by Israeli brokers may very well be a definite risk.

Cubukcuoglu, in the meantime, stated the Qatar assault might harden Ankara’s help for Hamas.

“This resonates with Turkish anxieties that Israel might finally prolong such operations to Turkish territory,” he stated. “The Turkish authorities calculates that abandoning Hamas now would weaken its regional affect, whereas standing agency bolsters its function as a defender of Palestinian causes towards Israeli aggression.”

Tensions might play out in Syria Whereas consideration is targeted on tensions surrounding the battle in Gaza and Turkey’s relations with Hamas, Unluhisarcikli warned the better hazard could also be in Syria, the place he described Israel and Turkey as being “on a collision course.”

“To suppose that focusing on Turkish troops or Turkish allies or proxies in Syria could be to go too far is wishful considering,” he stated.

Syrian safety forces stand guard in entrance of the closely broken Syrian military and Protection Ministry headquarters complicated in Damascus, following Israeli strikes on July 16, 2025. (Bakr ALkasem / AFP)

Since Syrian rebels unseated Assad in December, rising tensions between Turkey and Israel have performed on the market. Ankara has supported the brand new interim authorities and sought to broaden its affect, together with within the army sphere.

Israel views the brand new authorities with suspicion. It has seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone in southern Syria — saying it is a momentary measure, for self-defense — and launched a whole lot of airstrikes on Syrian army services.

Jerusalem has additionally positioned itself because the protector of the Druze spiritual minority towards the primarily Sunni Muslim authorities in Damascus.

Earlier this yr, when Syrian safety forces have been despatched into the Sweida province after sectarian clashes broke out, Druze Israelis known as on Israel to intervene, to guard their brethren on the opposite facet of the border from atrocities and abuses. The calls led to Israeli airstrikes in Syria and a requirement that central authorities go away the area alone.

The battle got here after earlier massacres dedicated by safety forces towards Alawites, one other spiritual minority, to which former ruler Bashar al-Assad belonged.

Members of Syria’s safety forces stand on a tank within the predominantly Druze metropolis of Sweida on July 15, 2025, following clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters. (Bakr ALkasem / AFP)

Tensions additionally might spill into the broader jap Mediterranean, with Israel probably strengthening already shut ties to Greece and Greek Cypriots to problem Turkey’s army occupation in northern Cyprus.

Turkey mixes deterrence and diplomacy Turkey seems to be pursuing a combination of army deterrence and diplomacy in Syria geared toward defusing tensions to keep away from a direct battle with Israel.

Turkish and Israeli officers held talks in April to ascertain a “de-escalation mechanism” in Syria. The transfer adopted Israeli strikes on a Syrian airbase that Turkey had been purportedly planning to make use of. Netanyahu stated on the time that Turkish bases in Syria could be a “hazard to Israel.”

Ankara and Damascus final month signed an settlement on Turkey offering army coaching and recommendation to Syria’s armed forces.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syria’s interim chief Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) shake palms throughout their assembly in Istanbul, Turkey, Could 24, 2025. (HANDOUT / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

Erdogan additionally might hope Washington would take a tough line towards any Israeli army incursions.

Whereas Netanyahu has sought help from US President Donald Trump within the faceoff with Turkey, Trump as an alternative lavished reward on Erdogan for “taking on Syria” and urged Netanyahu to be “affordable” in his dealings with Turkey.

However because the strike in Qatar confirmed, having robust relations with Washington is just not essentially a safeguard towards Israel.

The Qatar assault confirmed there was “no restrict to what the Israeli authorities can do,” Unluhisarcikli stated.

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