US working on deconfliction mechanism among Turkey, Israel and Syria

The United States is working to establish a deconfliction mechanism among Israel, Turkey and Syria, U.S. special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said on Tuesday after Israel struck a Syrian airbase near the Turkish border.



Barrack, who is also U.S. ambassador to Turkey, said Turkey had not been warned about the Israeli strikes, "and consequently observed the aircraft heading north toward its territory and therefore could have reasonably prepared its own response," referring to possible Turkish military reaction.



"Thankfully, calm heads were able to prevent the situation from deteriorating further," Barrack told Reuters in a phone interview.



Turkey condemned Israel's strikes on the Abu al-Dahur airbase in northwestern Syria but did not comment further, including about a potential deconfliction mechanism.