Report: Israel sold $250m. of sophisticated spy systems to Saudi Arabia
These are the most sophisticated systems Israel has ever sold to any Arab country.
By Juliane Helmhold
Saudi Arabia and Israel held secret meetings which led to an estimated
$250-million deal, including the transfer of Israeli espionage
technologies to the kingdom, Israeli media reported on Sunday, citing an
exclusive report by the United Arab Emirate news website Al-Khaleej.
Some of the spy systems, which are the most sophisticated systems Israel
has ever sold to any Arab country, have already been transferred to
Saudi Arabia and put into use after a Saudi technical team received
training in operating them, the report added.
The exclusive report also revealed that the two countries exchanged
strategic military information in the meetings, which were conducted in
Washington and London through a European mediator.
Such cooperation would not be the first of its kind between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
In September, Al-Khaleej reported that Saudi Arabia had purchased
Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system to defend itself from Houthi
missile attacks.
The deal, which was reportedly mediated by the United States included
further plans to reach an agreement on broad military cooperation
between the two countries.
While Israel has no official ties with Saudi Arabia, the relationship
with the Sunni kingdom and other Gulf states has grown stronger in
recent years, due in large part to the shared threat of Iran’s expansion
across the region.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot met with his counterparts from
several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia’s Chief of Staff Gen.
Fayyad bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, in mid-October while in Washington for the
Countering Violent Extremist Organizations Conference for military
commanders.
While this seemed to be the first publicized meeting between Eisenkot
and Al-Ruwaili, it was the second consecutive year the two attended the
military commanders’ conference.
Last November, following Eisenkot’s first participation in the
conference, he offered to share Israeli intelligence about Iran with
Riyadh, telling the Saudi newspaper Elaph in an unprecedented interview
that what he heard from the Saudis about Iranian expansion was
“identical” to Israeli concerns.
Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.
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