Israel Defies Turkey on Syrian Soil

Several diplomatic and military developments marked Wednesday in the Middle East, with renewed tensions between Israel and Turkey over the Syrian issue. The latest episode unfolded on Wednesday, a day after Israeli aircraft bombed the Abu al-Duhur air base in the Idlib province of northwestern Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he had "clearly" communicated to Turkey that it should not establish a base in Syria, implicitly acknowledging the previous day's strike.

At the same time, Israeli Chief of Staff General Eyal Zamir warned that his country would not tolerate the presence of any "hostile force" near its borders, speaking during a visit to Israeli troops deployed in southern Syria.

The senior officer's visit came the day after the bombing of Abu al-Duhur air base. The Israeli government has accused Damascus of violating an agreement between the two sides by allowing Turkish troops to be deployed at the facility.

Ankara, whose relations with Israel have been strained for several years, rejected these accusations. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who also serves as the American president's special envoy for Syria, condemned the Israeli strikes, calling them "unnecessary escalation."

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the strikes came after "the visit, in recent days, of a Turkish military delegation to the airport as part of ongoing efforts to return it to service."

Conference in support of the Lebanese army

On the Lebanese front, Beirut announced Wednesday that it had received an invitation from France to take part in a preliminary meeting ahead of an international conference in support of the Lebanese army, set to be held in Paris next month.

The conference was originally scheduled to take place in March in the French capital, but was postponed after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the regional war in support of Iran.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, currently on an official visit to Rome, received a letter from his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron inviting Lebanon to "participate in a preliminary meeting on September 17 in Paris, ahead of the international conference in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces," the Lebanese presidency announced.

Chiefs of staff from several countries, as well as experts and representatives of governments and international organizations, are expected to attend the preliminary meeting, according to the Lebanese presidency. However, Paris has yet to make an official announcement regarding the meeting.

Israeli army admits killing Hind Rajab

In Gaza, the Israeli army acknowledged Wednesday that its troops had opened fire on the car in which Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, was riding when she was killed in January 2024. It also announced the opening of an investigation following preliminary inquiries into the matter.

Hind Rajab's body had been found in a bullet-riddled car several days after the girl was last heard during a lengthy phone call with the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024.

The Israeli army had until now denied that its troops were in the area at the time of the incident.

Hind Rajab had called emergency services from her family's car, which had come under fire as the family attempted to flee Gaza City amid the Israeli army's advance into the northern part of the Palestinian territory.

The circumstances of the girl's death had sparked widespread international outrage and prompted numerous calls for an independent investigation.

The original recordings of her call to emergency services were later incorporated into the Oscar-nominated documentary The Voice of Hind Rajab.

Ghalibaf in Baghdad

Iranian Parliament Speaker and Tehran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday for a three-day visit, as Iraq faces significant pressure from Washington to disarm the powerful Iran-backed armed factions.

Ghalibaf stated that his visit was aimed at "strengthening the new order in the region and accelerating the deepening of cooperation among all regional countries, free from foreign interference."

The statement comes at a particularly sensitive time for Baghdad, caught between its ties with Tehran and US demands regarding Iran-backed armed groups operating on its soil.

Ghalibaf is scheduled to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, before holding talks with representatives of the "Coordination Framework," the ruling coalition grouping several Shia parties with varying degrees of closeness to Tehran.

Under pressure from Washington, Zaidi has given Iran-backed armed groups until September 30 to lay down their weapons — a deadline that coincides with the end of the US-led anti-jihadist coalition's mission in Iraq.