Saudi Arabia opens its airspace to all countries, including Israel -

Riyadh/Washington: Saudi Arabia has opened its airspace and airports for flights from all countries. Announcements of having no restriction on any country are pretty significant as it indirectly signals to allow Israeli flights to operate from Saudi airports. This announcement from Saudi Arabia has come just before the visit of US President Joe Biden. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has claimed that the credit for this goes to Joe Biden, looking at the announcement’s timing. Meanwhile, there were reports that Saudi Arabia was willing to allow Israel to use its airspace for airstrikes on Iran.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that its airspace had been opened to all types of aircraft from all countries without any ban that follows Saudi regulations. Earlier in 2020, following the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for passenger flights from Israel to travel to the UAE within a few weeks. However, the announcement on Friday allows all types of aircraft from all countries to use airports in Saudi Arabia. US President Joe Biden has called this a historic decision. Arab countries have welcomed this decision taken by Saudi Arabia.

A team of Israeli military analysts who visited Saudi Arabia last week mentioned that they received a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia. Later the announcement from Saudi Arabia seems to be the next step to increasing cooperation with Israel.

Meanwhile, it’s quite certain that Israel and Saudi Arabia will join forces to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. A few years ago, reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia would allow Israeli warplanes to use its airspace to launch attacks on Iran. Covert cooperation between Israel and Saudi has already begun; however, both countries ensured secrecy of their collaboration. As the Arab-Gulf countries have recognized Israel by signing the Abraham Accords, it has created the background for Saudi Arabia to cooperate with Israel.