Israel advances to protect its borders with Syria, and Trump calls Turkey a "key player in shaping the post-Assad political landscape."

Turkey and Israel are the main strategic beneficiaries of the collapse of the Syrian regime, but now they are on a collision course of their own.

Ankara's growing military presence in Syria has led to a diplomatic clash between former allies Israel and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has supported Hamas, even hinting at some sort of armed intervention.

With the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime and Turkey’s shared border with Syria, Erdogan’s statement – essentially threatening a ground invasion of Israel – carries troubling implications.

The Turkish foreign ministry has strongly condemned Israeli military action in Syria, including the IDF’s advance into the buffer zone between Israel and Syria. “Israel is once again displaying its occupation mentality,

"Israel is trying to impose itself on a sovereign country without any justification... this is unacceptable," said the Turkish Foreign Minister

Israel has a security and strategic stake in an alliance with the Kurds in Iraq and Syria, as well as supporting the Kurds in Iran and the Druze community in Syria. Strong alliances with these minorities would create a barrier against any future attempts by Iran and its Shi’ite Iraqi proxies to infiltrate Syria and link up with Hezbollah.

While Turkey backs the HTS regime, Israel is destroying its military capacity and claiming territory – fuelling fears of fragmentation.

Berlin says 'perfectly clear' area belongs to Syria; Ankara says attempt to expand borders 'through occupation' is a 'grave concern'

The blurring of its borders is also underway — from Israel to the southwest and Turkey to the north. Israel’s military wasted no time advancing on Syria after Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led rebels two weeks ago, with troops moving eastward into a ...

Israel rejected Turkish accusations on Tuesday following Ankara’s condemnation of Israeli military actions in Syria, as Turkey escalates its own operations in the war-torn country. The rising ...

Then, there are other means to knock Turkey’s nuclear reactor offline. The Stuxnet virus set Iran’s nuclear program back years; Turkey is not immune to cyber-attacks. Even if Israel were responsible for inserting a virus into Turkey’s atomic software, it is unclear that NATO would deem this a reason to react.