Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu over the weekend lashed out at Israel over the reported strikes, urging  the Bashar al-Assad regime – against which Turkey has been waging a two-year proxy war inside Syria – to retaliate against Jerusalem. Davutoglu, described by US diplomatic cables as “exceptionally dangerous” and “lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies”, further suggested that the lack of a response from Damascus was evidence of a “secret” conspiracy between the regime and Israel, and indicated that Turkey itself might retaliate against Israel as a matter of Muslim solidarity. Foreign policy analyst Steven Cook described Davutoglu’s statements as “nothing short of irresponsible”, and Georgetown Israel Institute director Michael Koplow noted that they came as part of a pattern indicating that “the Turkish government for whatever reason is incapable of rational and level-headed behavior when it comes to Israel.”