Posted on 08/08/2012 10:50:44 PM PDT by tsowellfan
Saudi Arabia will not permit Israeli aircraft to cross its territory on the way to strike Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Thursday. The message was passed to Jerusalem via Obama administration officials during recent talks in Israel.
Senior Israeli officials reportedly see the move as a warning message from the US not to launch a unilateral strike, according to the paper .
Saudi Arabia is supplied with US military equipment and aircraft, and some estimate that if an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities were carried out in cooperation with the US, Saudi Arabia would permit an overflight.
But if Israel acts alone, Riyadh told the US it would intercept any Israeli plane that tried to cross its territory on the way to Iran.
If Israel were to strike Iran, the logistical obstacles are formidable, as the New York Times reported in February. It is estimated that Israel would have to use at least 100 planes to strike Iran’s four main nuclear sites, and travel over 1,000 miles over hostile territory to reach them.
Netanyahu reportedly prefers the US to lead, or at least help in a possible strike on Iran
The closing of Saudi Arabian airspace removes from Israel’s options one potential route to get to Iran, but others exist: north over Turkey, or straight east through Jordan and Iraq. However it is unclear whether those countries would allow Israel to use its airspace as well.
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, in Israel last week, said that “all options” were on the table for dealing with a potential Iranian nuclear weapon, including the military option.
“If they continue and if they proceed with a nuclear weapon,” he said, “we have options that we are prepared to implement to ensure that that does not happen.”
The US, though, has expended much effort trying to hold Israel back from a unilateral strike, saying there is still time for diplomacy and sanctions to thwart Tehran’s nuclear plans.
Makes perfect sense if the sticking point for the Saudis is US participation in any raid in Iran. The Saudis are vulnerable to Iranian counterstrikes and the closure of Hormuz. They would need US assistance to defend themselves.
So the US (Obama) says that we'll "sit this one out." Saudi Arabia says, "Well if you're not in, neither are we." But that still leaves the problem of an IDF strike -- which will still invite Iranian retaliation on the entire Gulf Region. The only thing that the Saudis can do is tell the IAF that they will actively oppose overflight. (But maybe still let them thru anyway).
Our friends, the Saudis. Willing to go to war with Israel in Obama’s stead.
“Saudi Arabia says it will intercept Israeli planes en route to Iran”
They will!
They will make sure they are properly refueled and on the right trajectory.
From the article:
“Upgrades to older models will start in mid- to late 2014, and delivery of the new aircraft will begin in early 2015, according to the State Department.”
This won’t be a factor for at least 2 to 3 years and I doubt that the aircraft are combat-ready immediately after delivery or upgrade. I assume there’s a shakeout period.
The US leaking Israel’s potential use of Azerbaijan as a staging area clearly indicated the US rejection of any Israeli attack on Iran. This action by Saudi Arabia also says the same. FWIW, so does the presence of US carrier groups in the Persian Gulf.
Is Iran being protected in its drive to acquire nukes? Is US policy now actively anti-Israel?
The time table for raids is thus shown to be after the American election and the displacement of the weak and totally ineffective Obama.
In 1981 the IAF launched an attack against the Iraqi nuclear facility at Osirak. To get there, they had to violate Saudi air space. Was it Saudi-Israeli collusion or just incompetency on the part of the Saudi air defense forces? Given the fact that the house of Saud was terrified of an Iraqi attack, it coul’ve been the former. ON their way back to Eretz Israel the Israeli Air Force (hail ha-avir) jettisoned their empty fuel tanks over the Saudi northern desert.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Yeah, but say hypothetically that someone in the US tells Saudi Arabia that Israel is going to strike. That’s then a lot of people that would know about it in a short period of time, and could possibly tip the hat to Iran to prepare for the strike.
If it was me, I’d just send a fleet of electronic warfare aircraft to escort theirs.
Uh huh... you may try to camel humpers... you may try to.
LLS
I’m fairly confident the Israeli Air Force has more than adequately planned for dealing with saudi interference.
If the saudomites want to spend hours chasing ghosts all over the sky, it’s a good bet that Israel and her drone fleet can oblige them while the real action is taking place elsewhere.
I can tell you the outcome. The Saudis will be putting in a new order of F15s.
The Isrealis will be on their return leg before the Saudis respond if ever.
All the Israelis have to do is fly over right at prayer time. I was on a Saudi airbase. They all go to prayer at the same time. The perfect time to hit would be during Ramadan when they are all tired and hungry from fasting all day.
Ramadam ends the 18th so if anything happens it will be in the next few weeks.
Well, I suppose they'd be sufficient for an Israeli weapons check. Barely... perhaps if camels had wings?
I’m sure Israeli agents and some of the best hackers in the world are crawling all over their nuke program.
However, if they get too close to making a bomb I would not be surprised if the Israelis already have stealth bombers ready for such a mission.
That’s what I thought too. And besides, who will know if planes actually flew over SA territory and SA will of course strongly deny.
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