Saudi and Oman to participate in war exercises alongside Israel

Dubai: – The United States navy has planned a massive war exercise in the middle east region in response to the attacks on Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), by Houthi rebels based out of Yemen. The war exercise called International Maritime Exercises (IMX) 2022 will start on Monday. Important countries of the Middle East are expected to participate along with the US navy and Israeli navy. The willingness of Saudi and Oman, who do not have diplomatic ties with Israel, to participate in these exercises and Israel, is quite surprising and is seen as a significant development.

In November, the US and Israeli navy have held war exercises in the Gulf. UAE and Bahrain had participated in these exercises. But both these countries have recognised Israel by signing the Abraham agreement. Now the countries participating in the IMX 22 also include Saudi and Oman. Qatar and Kuwait will not participate due to Israel’s participation. Against this background, Saudi and Oman’s decision to participate with Israel is drawing attention.

A few days ago, the Houthi rebels from Yemen launched a missile attack on the UAE capital Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, they launched missile attacks on Dubai when the Israeli President was in the city. Due to this, Israel immediately announced to provide security support and air defence systems to the UAE. Even Saudi Arabia is faced with the threat of Houthi missile attacks. The United States has decided to reduce military cooperation with Saudi Arabia in this situation. Therefore, it appears that now Saudi Arabia may need defence cooperation and an air defence system from Israel.

Against this background, the participation of Saudi Arabia in the IMX 22 war exercises seems to be a paradigm shift in their policy for the strategic interest of their country. Meanwhile, amid reports of the war exercises, a sudden visit of Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz to Bahrain has been announced. There are reports that military cooperation between Israel and Bahrain will be announced during this visit.