3 yıl önce

US, Gulf states and Israel hold first joint naval drills

Forces from the UAE, Bahrain, Israel and the US Naval Forces Central Command began a multilateral maritime security operations exercise in the Red Sea to "enhance interoperability".

AFP

Naval exercises include boarding, search and seizure training on the USS Portland, an amphibious transport dock ship.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have held their first joint naval exercise with Israel, a year after normalising ties.

The US Navy said that the five-day manoeuvres in the Red Sea, which began on Wednesday are linked to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, and are intended to "enhance interoperability between participating forces".

"It is exciting to see US forces training with regional partners to enhance our collective maritime security capabilities," said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, or NAVCENT.

"Maritime collaboration helps safeguard freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade, which are essential to regional security and stability."

The exercises include boarding, search and seizure training on the USS Portland, an amphibious transport dock ship.

It is the first publicly announced military cooperation by the UAE and Bahrain with Israel since they opened diplomatic relations in September last year.

Concerns over Iran

Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and the United States share concerns about Iran, which has previously been accused of orchestrating attacks on shipping in the region.

The joint naval exercise "will increase cooperation and the safety of the sea, not just the Red Sea, because we are dealing with Iranian terror", the official said.

"This terror has many dimensions as you saw with the Mercer Street (tanker) a couple of months ago," he added.

Separately, Iran's Commander of IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, warned Israel that if if started a military confrontation, Tehran would determine its end.

The normalisation agreements, which also involved Morocco and Sudan, broke with decades of Arab consensus that there should be no diplomatic ties without a resolution to the Palestinian conflict.

The Red Sea borders Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting alongside government forces against Iran-backed rebels since 2015.

It lies next to the Gulf of Aden, which saw a rash of attacks on shipping by Somali-based pirates in the first decade of the 21st century before patrols by navies from around the world largely halted them.

SOURCE: AFP