I don't think it's possible. iTunes requires a full OS install, so you'll have to just run it on a VM. And Apple has things locked down so much that the only way to do full iPhone/iPad backups is through iTunes.

There is libimobiledevice for interavting with ios devices, you might want to check it out

I think you can do this by mounting a macos VM: link

New macOS versions do not require iTunes and you can back up directly through the finder window. Your backup will be located there: /Users/{USERNAME}/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

Not iTunes, but you can use libimobiledevice to backup an Apple device on Linux https://docs.mvt.re/en/latest/ios/backup/libimobiledevice/