RIYADH – The Jewish naval forces are taking part in US-led naval exercises,joining the nations that Tel Aviv does not have formal ties with, includingPakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The exercises started in the beginning of February and will conclude in thecoming week.
The 18-day biennial naval training event dubbed as IMX 22 includes nearly60 countries and it comes amid heightened Gulf tensions after missileattacks on the Gulf region by Houthi rebels, that also targeted a basehosting American forces.
According to reports, more than 9,000 personnel from 60 countries aretaking part in the International Maritime Exercise, which will focus onunmanned naval systems and the use of artificial intelligence.
The massive naval exercise is aimed at strengthening regional security andadvance regional cooperation among the participating nations.Saudi Arabia and Israel come closer to contain Iran
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Riyadh and Tel Aviv have also come closer as Tehran’s regional activitieshave increased as Houthis warned of more attacks and launched anotherattack on Abu Dhabi earlier on January 24.
Meanwhile, Israel and Bahrain also signed a security cooperation agreementearlier this week amid heightened tensions in the region.
Bahrain, along with the United Arab Emirates, normalized ties with Israelin 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, partly out of the sharedconcerns about Iran. The recent pact of the Jewish state with Bahrain wasthe first such pact that Israel had reached with one of its new allies inthe Gulf.
