JERUSALEM: Israel has been promoting the idea that its ties with Arab countries are improving, and some experts say there are signs that shared concerns over Iran are indeed nudging them closer.
Formal recognition of Israel by Arab states does not seem likely anytime soon, but behind-the-scenes cooperation has opened up in various areas, a number of experts and officials say.
Significant rapprochement would constitute a departure from the decades-old policy of Arab countries refusing to deal with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is created.
But in the latest sign of mutual interests, both Israel and Saudi Arabia congratulated US President Donald Trump last week after his speech in which he declared he would not certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
“I think there are two issues that the president was concerned with and we’re all concerned with, and coincidentally on this, Israel and the leading Arab states see eye-to-eye,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week.
“When Israel and the main Arab countries see eye-to-eye, you should pay attention, because something important is happening.”
Last month, Netanyahu described relations with the Arab world as the “best ever,” though without providing any details.
Leaders of Arab countries have not publicly made similar comments, though that does not necessarily mean they dispute Netanyahu’s claim.
They face sensitivities within their own countries, where the Jewish state is often viewed with intense hostility.
Since Israel was established in 1948, only two Arab states — Egypt and Jordan — have signed peace deals with the country.
But as the Middle East’s most powerful military with respected intelligence capabilities and a close bond with the United States, Israel is potentially a key ally against Iran for Arab states.
Israel has long viewed Iran as its number one enemy, while Sunni Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia are regional rivals of the Shiite country.
“(Relations are still) under the radar and unofficial because the culture of the Middle East is sensitive” to this matter, Israeli Communications Minister Ayoub Kara, a Netanyahu ally, told AFP.
Due to the concealed nature of any improved relations, pointing to exactly what Israel and Arab countries may be cooperating on is difficult.
Occasional examples have become public, such as when Israel announced in 2015 it would open a mission in Abu Dhabi as part of an international green energy body — its first official presence in the United Arab Emirates.
Israeli public radio reported last month that a Saudi prince visited the country secretly and met with Israeli officials about regional peace. The visit was never confirmed.
Uzi Rabi, a Tel Aviv University professor who specializes in Saudi Arabia, said there seemed to be “coordination” on issues including seeking to limit the spread of Iranian influence in the region.
It may also include cyber-security coordination, he said.
“There are Saudis meeting Israelis everywhere now, functioning relations based on shared interests,” Rabi said.
The United States has also sought to promote links between Israel and the Arab world, with Trump’s administration hoping to leverage regional interests to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Trump visited the Middle East in May, traveling from Saudi Arabia to Israel in a rare direct flight between the two countries.
“There is tremendous will, really good feeling, toward Israel,” Trump said of Saudi Arabia upon arrival in Israel.
“What’s happened with Iran has brought many other parts of the Middle East toward Israel.”
But even if ties are warming, many analysts question whether major steps are possible without a peace deal that would end Israel’s 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory.
Israeli relations with Gulf Arab states are not totally new.
In the 1980s, for example, Saudi billionaire arms dealer Adnan Al-Khashoggi, a key player in the region, was said to have had a relationship with then-defense minister Ariel Sharon, said Gil Merom, a specialist in political relations at the University of Sydney.
But the ties seem to have become less covert.
For years, politicians have discussed the so-called “inside out” theory, whereby Gulf Arab states would recognize Israel in exchange for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
This was the basis of a 2002 Saudi-led peace plan which was never implemented.
But increasingly Israeli officials talk about the “outside in” idea — Arab states recognizing Israel ahead of potential Palestinian independence.
There is no sign Arab states would go along with any such plan.
Kristian Ulrichsen, a professor focused on Gulf affairs at Rice University in the United States, said the basis of ties between Israel and Arab countries was common enemies.
“For several of the Sunni Arab states in the region, particularly in the Gulf, there is a growing sense that the major contemporary faultlines in the region now revolve around the perceived threat from Iran and militant Islamism,” he said.
“And on both these issues there is a certain convergence of interest with Israel,” he told AFP. “I do expect economic and security ties to become more open in the months and years ahead.”
For Israel, concern over Iran leads to better ties with Arab states
For Israel, concern over Iran leads to better ties with Arab states
Mikati warns Israeli military action in Lebanon a rejection of political solution
- Borrell in Beirut: Pressure must be exerted on Israel, Hezbollah to accept US proposal
- Israel steps up bombardment of capital’s southern suburbs
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed a soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said, with the caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, calling the attack “a direct bloody message rejecting all efforts to reach a ceasefire.”
The attack came as top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon.
According to the Lebanese Army Command, the first adjutant, Diab Mohammed Jaafar, was killed when Israel targeted Al-Amariyeh checkpoint on the road between Tyre and the town of Naqoura.
In a statement, Mikati said: “Israel’s messages rejecting a solution are ongoing, and just as it turned against the US-French call for a ceasefire in September, here it is once again responding with Lebanese blood, blatantly rejecting the solution that is being discussed.”
He called on “the countries of the world and the relevant international institutions to assume their responsibilities on the issue.”
Mikati’s condemnation came amid growing concerns that the Israeli military is trying to solidify its westward incursion in the coastal town of Al-Bayada, located between Tyre and Naqoura, while facing strong resistance from the eastern side of the border area in its positions in Khiyam.
Israeli forces are trying to encircle the South Litani area from both sides.
Hezbollah said it “targeted a gathering of the enemy army s forces east of the city of Khiyam with a salvo of rockets,” and “a gathering of Israeli forces at the Metula site (Israel’s outlet toward Khiyam) was targeted with a volley of rockets followed by an aerial attack with a squadron of assault drones … hitting its targets accurately.”
The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched 160 projectiles toward Israel on Sunday.
Sirens sounded across northern and central Israel, reaching Tel Aviv at successive intervals, forcing thousands of Israelis to head toward shelters.
Footage from central Israel showed extensive material damage and fires.
The Israeli military issued further warnings to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, targeting Bourj Al-Barajneh and Hadath.
Former Israeli minister Benny Gantz claimed that the Lebanese government “is leaving Hezbollah unchecked,” adding: “It is time to act against its assets forcefully.”
These developments came during a round of discussions conducted by Borrell, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, in Beirut with Mikati and Speaker Nabih Berry.
In a statement, Borrell stressed the need for exerting pressure on Israel and Hezbollah to accept the US proposal for a ceasefire.
Borrell emphasized that “the situation in the Middle East, particularly here in Beirut, presents a significant challenge to the international community. The international community cannot remain inactive in the face of these events. The absence of peace in the Middle East has reached an intolerable level, and people are dying under bombardment.”
He added that two months on from his last visit to Beirut, he now views Lebanon as on the verge of collapse due to the conflict, which has led to the devastation of numerous villages, as well as airstrikes aimed at Beirut and Baalbek. He also reiterated that “the human cost is exceedingly high.”
Borrell said Israeli airstrikes had claimed the lives of over 3,500 people in Lebanon, a figure three times greater than the casualties recorded in 2006.
The only viable path forward, Borrell said, is an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
Borrell praised the UNIFIL forces and confirmed the EU’s readiness to allocate €200 million ($208.3 million) to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
He emphasized the Lebanese need to “assume their political responsibilities by electing a president and putting an end to this prolonged power vacuum that has exceeded two years.”
Borrell said a ceasefire proposal for Gaza is pending Israeli government approval, and “we, as the international community, need to work to ensure the respect of international law, as we see famine being used as a weapon of war through international law violations, the complete siege imposed on Gaza and the number of people that are dying in Lebanon.”
He added that in his view the decisions of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for Israel’s activities in Gaza were not politically motivated and had been made under international law, which applied to everyone. “We strongly support the court,” he said.
15 Turkish-backed fighters killed in north Syria clashes with Kurdish-led forces
- SDF fighters “infiltrated positions of the Turkish-backed” troops in the Aleppo countryside, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said
- The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019
BEIRUT: At least 15 Ankara-backed Syrian fighters were killed Sunday after Kurdish-led forces infiltrated their territory in the country’s north, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who controls swathes of the country’s northeast, “infiltrated positions of the Turkish-backed” fighters in the Aleppo countryside, said the Observatory, which has a network of sources inside Syria.
“The two sides engaged in violent clashes” that killed 15 of the Ankara-backed fighters, the monitor said.
An AFP correspondent in Syria’s north said the clashes had taken place near the city of Al-Bab, where authorities said schools would be suspended on Monday due to the violence.
The SDF is a US-backed force that spearheaded the fighting against the Daesh group in its last Syria strongholds before its territorial defeat in 2019.
It is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), viewed by Ankara as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which claimed the attack on Ankara.
Turkish troops and allied rebel factions control swathes of northern Syria following successive cross-border offensives since 2016, most of them targeting the SDF.
Israel moving towards a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, Axios reports
BEIRUT: Israel is moving towards a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon with the Hezbollah militant group, Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted on X on Sunday, citing a senior Israeli official.
A separate report from Israel's public broadcaster Kan, citing an Israeli official, said there was no green light given on an agreement in Lebanon, with issues still yet to be resolved.
Russian plane catches fire after landing in Turkiye but passengers and crew are safely evacuated
- “Eighty nine passengers and six crew members on board were safely evacuated at 9:43 p.m. (1843 GMT) and there were no injuries”
ANKARA, Turkiye: The engine of a Russian plane with 95 people on board caught fire after landing at Antalya airport in southern Turkiye on Sunday, Turkiye’s transportation ministry said. All passengers and crew were safely evacuated.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 type aircraft run by Azimuth Airlines had taken off from Sochi and was carrying 89 passengers and six crew members, the ministry said in a statement.
The pilot made an emergency call after the aircraft landed at 9:34 p.m. local time, and airport rescue and firefighting crews quickly extinguished the fire, according to the statement.
No one was hurt, the statement said.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
A video of the incident posted by the aviation news website, Airport Haber, showed flames coming out from the left side of the plane as emergency crews doused the aircraft. Passengers were seen evacuating the plane through an emergency slide, some carrying belongings.
The transportation ministry said efforts were underway to remove the aircraft from the runway. Arrivals at the airport were temporarily suspended while departures were taking place from a military-run runway.
War-hit Lebanon suspends in-person classes in Beirut area till end of December
- Education minister announced “the suspension of in-person teaching” in schools, technical institutes and private higher education institutions in Beirut
- Suspension of in-person teaching also applies to parts of neighboring Metn, Baabda and Shouf districts starting Monday
BEIRUT: Lebanon has suspended in-person classes in the Beirut area until the end of December, the education ministry announced Sunday, citing safety concerns after a series of Israeli air strikes this week.
Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced in a statement “the suspension of in-person teaching” in schools, technical institutes and private higher education institutions in Beirut and parts of the neighboring Metn, Baabda and Shouf districts starting Monday “for the safety of students, educational institutions and parents, in light of the current dangerous conditions.”
Earlier on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported two Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, about an hour after the Israeli military posted evacuation calls online for parts of the Hezbollah bastion.
“Israeli warplanes launched two violent strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs in the Kafaat area,” the official National News Agency said.
The southern Beirut area has been repeatedly struck since September 23 when Israel intensified its air campaign also targeting Hezbollah bastions in Lebanon’s east and south. It later sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.