Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a scathing attack on Israel on Thursday, accusing the Jewish state of exploiting the Druze minority in Syria as a pretext for territorial expansion into the nation.
“Israel, using the Druze as an excuse, has been expanding its banditry into neighboring Syria over the past two days,” Erdogan declared in a televised address following a cabinet meeting, as quoted by news agencies.
He did not mince words in his condemnation, stating, “I want to state this once again, clearly and directly: Israel is a lawless, unruly, unprincipled, spoiled, pampered, and greedy terrorist state.”
Erdogan further escalated his rhetoric, warning of dire consequences if Israel’s actions are not curbed. “At this stage, the biggest problem in our region is Israel’s aggression… If the monster is not stopped immediately, it will not hesitate to throw first our region, then the world, into flames.”
The Turkish President affirmed his country’s commitment to Syria’s sovereignty, emphasizing that Turkey “would not allow Syria to be divided or see its multicultural structure and territorial integrity harmed.”
The accusations follow a period of intense violence in the Druze-majority province of Sweida in southern Syria. Since Sunday, the region has been engulfed in sectarian bloodshed, with numerous fatalities reported in clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and elements of the Syrian army and its allies.
Israel responded to the situation with airstrikes which hit Syrian military targets. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that an agreement had been reached to de-escalate the situation in the area.
Erdogan’s comments are just the latest in a series of anti-Israel statements he has made in recent years. Erdogan has increased his verbal attacks on Israel since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023. The two countries had been on track to restore strained ties before Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
In March, Erdogan blasted Israel and described it as a “terror state” after it launched surprise strikes on terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.
“The Zionist regime has once again shown that it is a terror state that feeds on the blood, lives and tears of the innocent with its brutal attacks on Gaza last night,” he said at the time.
Last month, the Turkish President claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government represents the most significant threat to Middle East security.