Netanyahu Postpones Azerbaijan Trip Amid Tensions with Turkey

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed a planned visit to Azerbaijan originally scheduled for May 7–11, citing security developments in Gaza and Syria, according to a statement from his office on Saturday.

“In light of developments in the Gaza Strip and Syria, and due to a tight political and security schedule, Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to postpone his visit to Azerbaijan to a later date,” the statement said.

The postponement comes as Israel begins calling up 60,000 reservists ahead of an expected expanded ground offensive in Gaza. Netanyahu's war cabinet is scheduled to vote on the operation on Sunday, and military mobilization is already underway.

However, Israeli media reported the cancellation may be tied more directly to escalating tensions with Turkey. On Saturday, Turkish authorities reportedly blocked Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s aircraft from entering Turkish airspace on its way to Azerbaijan for the COP29 conference. Government sources say Netanyahu’s flight would have faced a similar blockade, forcing a lengthy detour over nations that are parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which recently issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

On Friday night, Israeli fighter jets launched one of the largest bombing campaigns in Syria in years, striking multiple Syrian military targets. The raids prompted Turkey to scramble its own aircraft, leading to an air standoff between Turkish and Israeli forces—further escalating regional tensions.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December, Syria has increasingly become a theater of geopolitical rivalry between Turkey and Israel. Both nations are vying to extend their influence across the fractured Syrian landscape, often targeting rival factions and infrastructure in pursuit of strategic dominance.