Mohamad bin Abdallah Zahrani, Mohamad bin Abdallah Rabia and Walid bin Abdel Rahman al-Obaidi top a list that includes the names of senior officers in Saudi Arabia. The list was part of classified documents that were leaked to make the story public: Saudi Arabia has been cooperating with the Israeli government over military training courses, joint military cooperation and management of sensitive areas in the Middle East.
The 2014 memorandum of understanding was concluded on joint military cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, and was exposed recently as the secret documents were leaked by a senior military official linked to left-wing liberal party “Meretz”.
One of the most stunning details of the leaks is that the agreement was concluded to Saudi Arabia and Israel management on sensitive passageways such as the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal and the Red Sea littoral countries as well.
Playing a game of mutual interest, the oil-rich country and Israel held a joint operation staff in Tiran Island. The island will be used as the Headquarter of a joint operation between Tel Aviv and Riyadh in the Red Sea.
The leaks published a list that contains the names, codes and ranks of Saudi officers taking part in the courses, stating that the courses include command school and specialized courses, advanced and specialized courses in sailing as well as courses in specialized airborne periods.
According to the leaked documents, Colonel “David Salami” was assigned on behalf of the Israeli government while on behalf of the Saudis Major-general “Ahmed bin Saleh Al-Zahrani” was selected, both to serve as the joint commander of the Navy.
Two days ago, the Washington Post said in a report that even though Saudi Arabia and Israel have no formal ties between them, yet there has been some sort of cooperation or at least what it called strategic dialogue over certain issues.
This comes in the light of Egypt’s transfer of two small Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. The two uninhabited islands, Tiran and Sanafir, have been in dispute for decades. They once formed the border between the Ottoman Empire and British-occupied Egypt. Since the 1950s, they have been under Egyptian control, except for a time following the 1967 war with Israel. They were returned to Egypt after the Camp David agreement in 1982.
In the Israeli daily Maariv, journalist Yossi Melman wrote: “The consent that was given by Israel for Egypt to restore sovereignty over two tiny islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to Saudi Arabia is just the tip of the iceberg of the fascinating secret talks that have been held behind the scenes.”
He also pointed to indirect economic ties, where Israeli produce and technologies are making their way to Saudi Arabia and under-the-radar talks between high-ranking officials on both sides.
