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The Egyptian military presence in the Gulf is not limited to the United Arab Emirates, but also includes three other nations, Al Jazeera reported on May 9, citing an Egyptian political source close to decision making circles.
“There are 4 Gulf nations where Egyptian forces are currently present as part of Cairo’s established policy of supporting the Gulf,” the source told the Qatari news channel.
Iran began launching missiles and drones at neighboring Gulf nations shortly after the start of the American-Israeli war more than a month ago, with the UAE taking the brunt of the attacks. The Islamic Republic’s attacks mainly targeted facilities where United States forces are deployed.
The Egyptian deployment in the UAE was revealed earlier in the week, during a visit by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to the nation.
El-Sis met with President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the two leaders later inspected a squadron of French-made Dassault Rafale fighter jets from the Egyptian Air Force deployed at an undisclosed air base — very possibly Al Dhafra Air Base near Abu Dhabi.
The source who spoke to Al Jazzera revealed that Egyptian forces were deployed to the Gulf since the first week of the war on Iran, noting that Cairo took the initiative to offer its support to the Gulf nations without waiting to be asked for anything.
In addition, the source explained that Egypt was keeping silent instead of announcing the deployment due to “regional considerations and balances,” as well as to maintain its parallel diplomatic role in an attempt to reduce escalation and reach a solution that ends the war, given its “good relations and the trust it enjoys from all parties.”
“The Egyptian presence in the four Gulf nations is primarily aimed at delivering supportive political messages rather than engaging in the war, which contradicts Cairo’s policy of preventing military confrontations and the expansion of the conflict,” the source said, emphasizing that “the presence is more defensive than offensive.”
While the source didn’t name the three other Gulf nations where Egyptian forces are deployed, it is highly likely that Saudi Arabia is one of them.
Commenting on the Egyptian deployment, an Iranian diplomatic source told Al Jazeera that the Islamic Republic already knew, noting that Tehran “understands very well the nature of Egypt’s relationship with its brothers in the Gulf.”
“Tehran is only targeting the support provided to the United States and Israel in its war against us,” the source stressed, adding that his country “understands that Egypt is not interested in engaging in an attack on Iran or providing support in any way for an attack on it.”
The source also affirmed that there are ongoing high-level contacts between Cairo and Tehran aimed at exchanging visions and viewpoints.
Overall, Iran apparently views Egypt’s military deployment in the Gulf as a counterweight to both the U.S. and Israel. The latter has already taken advantage of the war to send air defenses and troops to the UAE — a move that increased tensions significantly between Tehran and Abu Dhabi.
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if arab and moslem nations had been united, they would never have been colonised in the first place. israhell would not exist. they would not have been invaded, bombed, exploited and terrorised by predatory foreigners for centuries. the crusades would never have happened. the palestinians would be free and living in peace. the whole region from morocco to indonesia would be living in freedom, peace and prosperity.
instead, they always fall prey to divide and rule, allowing foreigners to exploit petty feuds and sectarian grievances. the quisling gulf regimes in bed with israhell begging chump to attack iran. egypt and syria joining in the amerikunt invasion of iraq in 1991. the us proxy terrorist foreign legions of al qaida, isis, mek, used to target one moislem country after another. the examples are legion and go back hundreds of years.
like most parts of any civilization, they’re too fractured. too many tribes, too many minorities, too many versions of roughly the same religion clashing. it’s very hard to unite such a big group of people with different viewpoints and mindsets.
their enemies are taking advantage of it by dividing them even more. even the biggest empires usually start to crumble from within