Trump offers to mediate tensions between Israel, Turkey

US President Donald Trump recieves Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on April 7, 2025. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump on Monday expressed confidence in his ability to resolve tensions between Israel and Turkey, following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The remarks come as Ankara and Tel Aviv have been trading accusations over each other’s roles in the region, especially in Syria.

“I told the Prime Minister [of Israel]... if you have a problem with Turkey, I really think they are going to be able to work it out,” Trump told reporters, explaining, “I have very very good relationship with Turkey and with their leader [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] and I think we will be able to work it out.”

“Any problem you have with Turkey, I think I can solve, I mean as long as you’re reasonable,” Trump added addressing Netanyahu.

Tensions between the two countries have escalated, especially following the swift offensive spearheaded by a coalition of opposition groups, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, on December 8 to topple the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

Turkey, a longtime supporter of the anti-Assad Syrian opposition, emerged as a key ally of the new Syrian leadership, but has been on a collision course with Israel, which regards the new rulers in Damascus as a threat.

Since Assad’s ouster, Israel has ramped up efforts to target Syria’s military stockpiles and its forces have entered a buffer zone east of the annexed Golan Heights.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has documented 44 Israeli attacks on Syrian territory since the beginning of 2025, targeting approximately 50 sites which include weapons and ammunition depots, headquarters, command centers, and vehicles.

Israel says its operations in Syria are a security precaution amid its political instability.

The Turkish foreign ministry on Thursday accused Tel Aviv of being “the biggest threat” to regional security with its attacks on "the territorial integrity and national unity of countries.”

The comments were in response to Israel accusing Turkey of playing a “negative role” in the region.

However, a day later, on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stated that his country does not want confrontation with Israel in Syria “because Syria belongs to Syrians. Syria does not belong to Turkey, Syria does not belong to Israel.”

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday stressed, “We have had neighborly relations with Turkey that have deteriorated, and we don’t want to see Syria being used by anyone, including Turkey, as a base for attack on Israel.”

He emphasized that “we can’t have a better interlocutor than the President of the United States” to help address the Ankara-Tel Aviv tensions.