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Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites

Apocalypse

DEATH TO ANTARCTICA!!!
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Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran. To ensure the Israeli bombers pass unmolested, Riyadh has carried out tests to make certain its own jets are not scrambled and missile defence systems not activated. Once the Israelis are through, the kingdom’s air defences will return to full alert.

“The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way,” said a US defence source in the area. “They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren’t scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the [US] State Department.”

Sources in Saudi Arabia say it is common knowledge within defence circles in the kingdom that an arrangement is in place if Israel decides to launch the raid. Despite the tension between the two governments, they share a mutual loathing of the regime in Tehran and a common fear of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “We all know this. We will let them [the Israelis] through and see nothing,” said one.

(...)

Israeli intelligence experts say that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are at least as worried as themselves and the West about an Iranian nuclear arsenal.Israel has sent missile-class warships and at least one submarine capable of launching a nuclear warhead through the Suez Canal for deployment in the Red Sea within the past year, as both a warning to Iran and in anticipation of a possible strike. Israeli newspapers reported last year that high-ranking officials, including the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, have met their Saudi Arabian counterparts to discuss the Iranian issue. It was also reported that Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, met Saudi intelligence officials last year to gain assurances that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets violating Saudi airspace during the bombing run. Both governments have denied the reports.

Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites - Times Online

If true, this is not the first time Saudi Arabia offers its airspace for an attack on Iran:

Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran - Times Online
 
I wouldn't be surprised if true, anything to save its own skin. That is the Saudis way.
 
Tribalism plays a factor in this. There is no love lost between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran.
 
The Saudi's might, but would Obama allow it? Or would he order US Aircraft to intercept them?
 
The Saudi's might, but would Obama allow it? Or would he order US Aircraft to intercept them?
be interesting to see our fighter pilots all of a sudden have engine trouble.
 
I still wonder if this is would to be enough to allow the attack. It is still a quite a distance to the Iranian sites flying around Iraq. The Saudi's motives are quite clear, as Iranian nuclear weapons are probably a bigger threat to them than to Israel.
 
I still wonder if this is would to be enough to allow the attack. It is still a quite a distance to the Iranian sites flying around Iraq.

The distance is a problem that was already solved.
During operation Cast Lead (AKA, 2009 Gaza war) Israel has sent jets all the way to Sudan to bomb a convoy that was smuggling weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
The length between Israel and Sudan and Israel and Iran is pretty close.
 
The Saudi's might, but would Obama allow it? Or would he order US Aircraft to intercept them?

Only a true partisan would think Obama would actually consider a shooting war with Israel... Wow, man.
 
One thing is certain...Israel does not vacillate and is not in the habit of saber rattling, they just get, the "job" done. Period
 
Does this mean that Saudi Arabia has also recognized Israel as a legitimate sovereign nation? I wonder if Saudi Arabia would also lift their weapons against Iran.
 
The Saudi's might, but would Obama allow it? Or would he order US Aircraft to intercept them?

No chance in hell the U.S would intercept the planes. I've read, most likely conspiratorial, but from credible sources, that the recent rift between the U.S and Israel has been dramatized so that when Israel does hit Iran the U.S has somewhat of plausible deniability. I don't know who would buy that the U.S didn't give Israel the green-light before any strike though.

Anyone have any estimates on when the strike is coming, because it is coming. I think August/September.
 
Does this mean that Saudi Arabia has also recognized Israel as a legitimate sovereign nation? I wonder if Saudi Arabia would also lift their weapons against Iran.

I doubt it. Its a win/win for Saudi Arabia. No direct involvement, but they would reap the benefits of a destroyed Iranian weapons program and further growth of anti-Israeli sentiment in the region and around the world.
 
No chance in hell the U.S would intercept the planes. I've read, most likely conspiratorial, but from credible sources, that the recent rift between the U.S and Israel has been dramatized so that when Israel does hit Iran the U.S has somewhat of plausible deniability. I don't know who would buy that the U.S didn't give Israel the green-light before any strike though.

Anyone have any estimates on when the strike is coming, because it is coming. I think August/September.


It bothers me that the US isn't publicly supporting Israel. There is something inherantly smarmy about this "Oh, we'll support you as long as the rest of the world doesn't know about it". I have no problem openly supporting our best ally in the Middle East!! :peace
 
Does this mean that Saudi Arabia has also recognized Israel as a legitimate sovereign nation? I wonder if Saudi Arabia would also lift their weapons against Iran.

The OP's first link must be read all the way down...

Military analysts say Israel has held back only because of this failure to secure consensus from America and Arab states. Military analysts doubt that an airstrike alone would be sufficient to knock out the key nuclear facilities, which are heavily fortified and deep underground or within mountains.

So, other nations will be needed for, the "necessary guidance" systems
 
No chance in hell the U.S would intercept the planes. I've read, most likely conspiratorial, but from credible sources, that the recent rift between the U.S and Israel has been dramatized so that when Israel does hit Iran the U.S has somewhat of plausible deniability. I don't know who would buy that the U.S didn't give Israel the green-light before any strike though.

Anyone have any estimates on when the strike is coming, because it is coming. I think August/September.

In Israel we have a war between July to December every three years.
Last war was in December 2008, we have like one year till then.
 
It bothers me that the US isn't publicly supporting Israel. There is something inherantly smarmy about this "Oh, we'll support you as long as the rest of the world doesn't know about it". I have no problem openly supporting our best ally in the Middle East!! :peace

People are starting to get fed up with Israel's behavior and our administration is picking up on that. Israel had carte-blanche for far too long and abused it horribly. And no, I'm not talking about the flotilla nonsense, that was just the lastest and most public example of a several-year trend.
 
People are starting to get fed up with Israel's behavior and our administration is picking up on that. Israel had carte-blanche for far too long and abused it horribly. And no, I'm not talking about the flotilla nonsense, that was just the lastest and most public example of a several-year trend.

If the flotilla nonsense is your example then you have no case.
Israel's behavior was completely appropriate during that raid, as the evidence released shows.
 
Moderator's Warning:
This thread is about Israel using Saudi airspace. Let's keep it there.
 
edited out for moderator.
 
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