"Israel" leads Red Sea navy exercises with Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, & more

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The US Navy has confirmed that it has carried out maritime maneuvers, called the International Maritime Exercise (IMX), in which 9,000 people from 60 countries participated. The 18-day biennial exercises were launched on January 31.

The exercises, which took place in the Red Sea, were led by the Israeli forces as well as many other countries that do not have official diplomatic ties with "Israel," including Pakistan. 

Read more: Hiding behind one's Mecca: Israeli-Saudi covert normalization

The Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, quoted a US statement, saying these maneuvers took place on the coast of the Arabian Sea, extending to the coasts of the Horn of Africa, including key regional players such as Oman, Yemen, Djibouti, and Comoros - countries that do not have relations with "Israel."

According to Dawn, what is particularly different about these exercises - of which its biennial drill was launched in 2012 - is that they became the largest international maritime exercises led by Washington in the Arabian Sea and the Horn of Africa, noting that this would be the first time that "Israel" conducts exercises with Arab and Islamic countries that do not have ties with the occupation regime. 

In November, the Israeli Navy participated in an exercise led by Washington in the Red Sea, which "Israel" said was “meant to serve as a response to recent attacks by Iran against Israeli naval assets."

In 2003, former Pakistani PM Pervez Musharraf attempted to warm ties with "Israel" and suggested that Pakistan might finally recognize it. However, as soon as the PM was gone, that issue was not seriously addressed again. 

However, today's PM Imran Khan hinted at recognizing "Israel" on several occasions, but his attempts were met with rejection and violent reactions from naysayers.