Turkey's Mecca Pact strategy

Hello, dear readers,

Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Turkey. It’s been a mind-bending week. Israel leveled a military airfield in northern Syria because it said Turkey was going to set up a base there. The move triggered a fresh round of fevered punditry about whether Turkey and Israel are on the brink of war.

I put the question to one of my favorite analysts, Danny Citrinowicz of the Israeli Institute for Strategic Studies, who is best known for his sharp commentary on Iran. He believes a clash is imminent. Click here for our convo. Click here, here and here for more on this week's Turkish-Israeli drama by my colleagues Ezgi Akin, Rina Bassist and Ben Caspit. The upshot is that Turkey is being the adult in the room, for now.

Thanks for reading!