Saudi Arabia formally acknowledged that it helped shoot down kamikaze drones heading for Israel. It’s part of the Kingdom’s not-so-secret “cozy” relationship with the Jewish state over the past few years. There are no formal diplomatic ties between these two countries yet.
🔴 Saudi Arabia publicly acknowledges role in defending Israel against Iranian attack
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 15, 2024
Absolutely historic times we are living in. The Abraham Accords and the promise of future normalization deals along the same lines have saved countless lives. https://t.co/io7yPYZ2zY
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) April 15, 2024
Still, there’s hope that the Trump-era Abraham Accords, where Morocco, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Sudan signed a normalization treaty with Israel, can be built upon and expanded. There should be cautious optimism. These new revelations reveal that the Middle East, by and large, might not want to be thrust into a destructive regional war. However, recognizing Israel’s right to exist might still be a diplomatic work in progress. Arab nations provided Israel and American forces with vital intelligence during Iran’s assault against Israel over the weekend (via WSJ):
As hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles winged across the Middle East Saturday night, a defensive line of radars, jet fighters, warships and air-defense batteries from Israel, the U.S. and a half dozen other countries was already activated against the long-feared attack from Iran.
Almost nothing got through to Israel.
The formidable display of collective defense was the culmination of a decades-old but elusive U.S. goal to forge closer military ties between Israel and its longtime Arab adversaries in an effort to counter a growing common threat from Iran.
But the U.S.-led effort to protect Israel in the days and hours before the Iranian attack had to overcome numerous obstacles, including fears by Gulf countries at being seen as coming to Israel’s aid at a time when relations are badly strained by the war in Gaza.
Much of the cooperation Saturday night that led to the shooting down of the Iranian-directed barrage needed to be forged on the fly, and many details about the role played by Saudi Arabia and other key Arab governments are being closely held.
Israeli and the U.S. forces intercepted most of the Iranian drones and missiles. But they were able to do so in part because Arab countries quietly passed along intelligence about Tehran’s attack plans, opened their airspace to warplanes, shared radar tracking information or, in some cases, supplied their own forces to help, officials said.
[…]
Efforts to build an integrated air-defense system for the region date back decades. After years of false starts and minimal progress, the initiative gained momentum after the 2020 Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration, which established formal ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Two years later, the Pentagon shifted Israel from its European Command to Central Command, which includes the rest of the Middle East, a move that enabled greater military cooperation with Arab governments under U.S. auspices.
“Israel’s move into Centcom was a game changer,” making it easier to share intelligence and provide early warning across countries, said Dana Stroul, who until December was the most senior civilian official at the Pentagon with responsibility for the Middle East.
[…]
The initial response from several Arab governments was wary, fearing that assistance to Israel could involve them directly in the conflict and risk reprisals from Tehran. After further talks with the U.S., the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia agreed privately to share intelligence, while Jordan said it would allow use of its airspace by U.S. and other countries’ warplanes and use its own aircraft to assist in intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, the officials said.
Two days before the attack, Iranian officials briefed counterparts from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries on the outlines and timing of their plan for the large-scale strikes on Israel so that those countries could safeguard airspace, the officials said. The information was passed along to the U.S., giving Washington and Israel crucial advance warning.
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Since at least 2017, it’s been known that Israel and Saudi Arabia have an intelligence relationship. The partnership is mutual: both nations want to keep Iran in check. No doubt Biden will try to play this off as his win if pressed by the media, but it’s quite clear that the fruits of this relationship were thanks to the work of the Trump State Department and not the man who allegedly allowed Iran to proceed with the strikes if they were within reason.
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