Tel Aviv: One of the immediate results of the visit of Israeli defense minister Benny Ganz in Bahrain is a boost to the intelligence ties between the two countries, especially about the Iranian plans regarding the Gulf state.
Another expected outcome is the common use of American and Israeli naval force in this country’s ports.
On February 2, Defense Minister, Benny Gantz landed in Manama, Bahrain for the first official visit by the leader of Israel’s Defense establishment to the Gulf country.
A welcome ceremony was held at Bahrain International Airport, during which the Minister was greeted by his Bahraini counterpart, Minister of Defense Affairs, H.E. Lieutenant General, Abdullah Bin Hassan Al Nuaimi.
Throughout the visit, the Minister is expected to conduct meetings with high-ranking officials in the Bahraini defense establishment and with the Kingdom’s leadership. The Minister is joined by Chief of Staff, Maayan Israeli, Commander of the Israeli Navy, Admiral David Saar Salama, Military Secretary, Brig. Gen. Yaki Dolf, and Director of the Policy and Political-Military Bureau Zohar Palti.
The aircraft carrying the delegation is the first IAF plane to land in Bahrain. Israel had prior low profile relations with Bahrain before the signing of the Abraham accords.
According to the Dawn website, Bahrain’s not-so-secret relationship with Israel predates the Abraham Accords. In a meeting with the US ambassador to Manama back in February 2005, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa confirmed the existence of Bahrain’s contacts with Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. The king also hinted at Bahrain’s readiness to further its relations with Israel in other areas but admitted that “it will be difficult for Bahrain to be the first. In 2017, the king let it be known that he opposed Arab boycotts of Israel and wanted Bahrainis to be able to travel there freely, despite the lack of diplomatic relations.”
Bahrain is located in a very strategic place in the Persian Gulf and has brought the US to establish a permanent presence of its fleet in this country.
According to a report prepared by the US congressional research service, a major hallmark of the defense relationship is US access to Bahrain’s naval facilities. The United States has had a US naval command presence in Bahrain since 1948: MIDEASTFOR (U.S. Middle East Force); its successor, NAVCENT (naval component of US Central Command); and the US Fifth Fleet (reconstituted in 1995), have been headquartered at a sprawling facility called “Naval Support Activity (NSA)-Bahrain. Prior to the 1991, US-led war against Iraq, the US naval headquarters in Bahrain was on a command ship docked and technically “offshore.”
NSA-Bahrain coordinates the operations of warships from 30 countries participating in Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 and 152 that seek to interdict the movement of terrorists, pirates, arms, weapons-related technology, and narcotics across the Arabian Sea. Bahrain has taken several turns commanding CTF-152, and it has led an antipiracy task force in Gulf/Arabian Sea waters. US-Bahrain naval cooperation undoubtedly facilitated Bahrain’s August 2019 decision to join a US-led maritime security operation (“International Maritime Security Construct,” IMSC, formerly called “Operation Sentinel”) to secure the Gulf against Iranian attacks on commercial shipping. On November 7, 2019, IMSC formally launched its operations, headquartered in Bahrain.
In November 2021 the United States, Bahrain, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have begun a joint naval training in the Red Sea, the US Navy announced.
According to a report in Al Jazeera, the five-day exercise is the first occasion the four countries have publicly acknowledged shared maritime drills and comes after the UAE and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel last year. The training focuses on maritime “visit, board, search and seizure tactics” and will “enhance interoperability” between the four participating navies, the US Navy’s 5th Fleet said in a statement.
“It is exciting to see US forces training with regional partners to enhance our collective maritime security capabilities,” Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command, said in a statement. He was quoted on the Al Jazeera website.
Vice Admiral (ret.) Eliezer Marom, former commander of the Israeli navy said that the presence of the Israeli navy in Bahrain brings Israeli military capability closer to Iran. “This is meaningful, but I doubt very much if Bahrain will let Israeli naval forces to operate against Iran from its naval facilities.”
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
