Israeli media: Iranian-Saudi rapprochement presents new challenge
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A senior researcher at the Israeli National Security Research Institute says that the Saudi-Iranian agreement constitutes an additional diplomatic achievement for Iran, and may consequently open a new front against "Israel."
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The head of Yemen's Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, meets with Saudi and Omani delegations at the Republican Palace in Sanaa, Yemen, on April, 9, 2023. (Reuters)
According to a researcher at the Israeli Institute for National Security and a former member of the military establishment, the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to resume diplomatic ties last month is an additional diplomatic achievement for Tehran.
The researcher stated that when analyzing the repercussions of the Saudi-Iranian agreement on "Israel", the Ansar Allah movement, which sees America and "Israel" as enemies that must be eliminated, must be taken into account.
He stated that Ansar Allah is armed with advanced weaponry and possesses advanced command and control techniques that enable them to attack targets both inGulf states and Saudi Arabia at once, noting that this armament includes surface and cruise missiles with different ranges, anti-tank missiles, and attack drones.
According to the researcher, the attack on Abu Dhabi in January 2022 indicates the possibility that an attack could potentially come from Yemen, as Eilat is located less than 2,000 km from the northwestern border of Yemen, while the attack in Abu Dhabi was made at a distance of about 1,500 km.
This is in addition to the dozens of cruise missiles that attacked Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia in September 2019, causing severe damage and disrupting 50% of the facility's oil production capacity.
He considered that with regard to Iran, Ansar Allah is a strategic ally that would attack "Israel" in some circumstances, and therefore there is a reasonable fear that with Iranian encouragement, they could direct their capabilities toward "Israel."
As he puts it, the occupation is surrounded by a Shiite-Sunni ring armed with weapons aimed at "Israel." Apart from Ansar Allah in the south, Iraq from the east, Hezbollah from the north, and Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from the West.
He further reported that a Yemeni diplomat recently stated that the rapprochement poses a threat to Israeli navigation in the Red Sea as well, and concluded by considering that "Israel" must think of a new strategic path in order to deal with the threat that could stem from the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
