2 IDF Warships Cross Suez to Red Sea
In a new signal to Iran, two Sa’ar 5-class Israeli Navy ships crossed through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea on Tuesday to beef up Israel’s naval presence near Eilat.
The passage of the ships comes several weeks after a Dolphin-class submarine passed through the international waterway for the first time.
One of the ships, the INS Hanit, already crossed the canal in June, in what an Egyptian source said was the first time a large missile ship used the strategic waterway, which is the fastest route to get Israeli Navy vessels from the Mediterranean, where they are based, to the Red Sea and beyond.
The other ship to cross on Tuesday was the INS Eilat.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that under a long-standing treaty, warships can freely sail through Suez as long as they have no hostile intentions against the state that owns the canal. He declined to say whether the maneuver was aimed at sending a message, saying, “I don’t want to analyze an issue that I am not fully aware of.”
The significance of the move is debatable, but could be interpreted as a message to Iran and a demonstration of a strengthening of ties between Egypt and Israel. Iran has recently deployed several of its navy ships in the Gulf of Aden and near Eritrea.
In the event of a conflict with Iran, and if Israel decided to involve its three Dolphin-class submarines – which according to foreign reports can fire nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and serve as a second-strike platform – the quickest route would be to sail them through the Suez Canal. Going through the canal would also be the only way to get to the Gulf of Oman without refueling.
Israeli Sub Said Armed With Nuclear-capable Torpedoes Navigates Suez Canal
The Dolphin-class attack submarine is reported to be the first Israeli naval vessel to transit the Suez Canal in four years on its way from Haifa to Eilat last month. According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the move indicates a strengthening of the informal Israel-Egyptian-Saudi pact forged in recent months against Iran and first revealed by our sources. The three Middle East nations have opted for an Iran policy which is separate from the track pursued by US president Barack Obama.
According to foreign military sources, the Israeli Dolphins are stationed in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean opposite Iran’s shores. They are said to be armed with torpedo tubes capable of launching nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
To transit the Suez Canal, the armed submarine would have required Egyptian permission at the highest level, possibly even President Hosni Mubarak. An official in Cairo told Reuters that its passage would not be problematic as Egypt and Israel are not at war.
This noncommittal response indicates that Egypt has no objection to Israeli military craft passing through the canal on their way to the Red Sea and on to the Persian Gulf in case of a decision to strike Iran. The alternative would be a voyage of weeks around the Horn of Africa.
Our military sources report that since the Israel Navy lost the Dakar submarine near Greece in 1968, all Israeli subs are armed when they move out of harbor. Disclosure of the Israeli sub’s passage through the Suez Canal last month is rated by our sources as of high regional significance, over and above the Middle East diplomatic moves afoot.
via DEBKAfile – Israeli sub said armed with nuclear-capable torpedoes navigates Suez Canal.
