Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




ENERGY TECH
Israel, Iran vie for control of Red Sea
by Staff Writers
Beirut, Lebanon (UPI) Dec 11, 2012


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

The Red Sea, a key shipping route, is becoming an arena of confrontation between Israel and Iran, with Sudan and Eritrea key targets by both sides in a strategic contest that's likely to intensify in the months ahead.

Sudanese opposition groups claim the Khartoum regime, which has long maintained links with the Islamic Republic, is allowing Iran to establish a naval base on its coastline along the western shore of the Red Sea.

Israel allegedly mounted an Oct. 24 airstrike against the Yarmouk arms plant outside Khartoum, a plant some sources maintain was producing Iranian missiles to be smuggled through Egypt to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has long conducted intelligence-gathering operations in Eritrea, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea where Tehran seeks to control the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the waterway.

Eritrea, an economically weak state with a population of 5.2 million, broke away from Ethiopia in 1991 after a long and bloody independence war. It's had a security problem ever since because Ethiopia, with 90 million people, lost its ports on the Red Sea and became landlocked.

Eritrea's greatest fear is an invasion by U.S.-backed Ethiopia to recover its lost territory. The countries fought a fierce border war in 1998-2000 and relations remain tense.

This has made Eritrea, isolated from its African neighbors and the United States, open to outside alignments and being dragged into other conflicts.

"In exchange for resources, possibly including modest amounts of cash and weapons, Eritrea has exhibited a willingness to become a base of support for Middle Eastern powers that want to exert greater influence in the Horn of Africa," the U.S. global security consultancy Stratfor observed.

"As a result, Eritrea and its waters in the Gulf of Aden have become another venue for Iran and Israel's rivalry.

"Israel and Iran's engagement with Eritrea is an extension of their rivalry over the Red Sea, which allegedly led to the bombing of the Yarmouk weapons factory in Sudan," Stratfor noted.

"Iran's operations in Eritrea are relevant to Tehran's larger goal of controlling the Bab el-Mandab Strait and the water route to the Suez Canal."

Iran is seeking to build up its naval forces and extend operations beyond the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and even the Mediterranean.

In the last few months Tehran has twice sent warships to Sudan's main Red Sea port to fly the flag and demonstrate support for the crisis-battered regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

It's locked in an explosive dispute with the infant state of South Sudan, which became independent in July 2011 after a decades-long civil war and gripped by growing unrest.

The South has the bulk of Sudan's oil reserves, the loss of which has cost Khartoum dearly and seriously undermined Bashir's oppressive regime.

Israel supported the southern rebels during the civil war against the Muslim Arab regime in Khartoum, primarily to contain Egypt and Iranian expansion on the Jewish state's western flank.

These days, Israel's widely suspected of aiding the fledgling state in the south against Khartoum.

In November, Sudan reported it thwarted a coup plot involving senior figures close to Bashir. Few details have been disclosed but there are deep suspicions Israel may have had a hand in it.

Increasingly, Israel's primary objective is to block Iranian operations and arms shipments in Sudan. The weapons are mainly shipped by the Revolutionary Guards from their Bandar Abbas base in the Persian Gulf to southern Sudan from where they are moved north overland to Egypt and across the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza.

The heavy Nov. 14-21 clashes between Israel and Hamas militants were triggered by Israel's alarm at the buildup in Gaza of Iranian Fajr missiles, capable of reaching Israel's population centers.

Indeed, during the fighting, several Fajrs were fired at Tel Aviv, and another at Jerusalem, a nightmare scenario the Israelis have long dreaded.

The missiles were shot down but the Israelis can be expected to pull out all the stops to prevent a much more destructive onslaught from Gaza, along with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes and unmanned aerial vehicles reportedly wiped out at least two arms shipments being trucked through Sudan in 2010.

.


Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ENERGY TECH
CNOOC-Nexen deal the last for Canada?
Beijing (UPI) Dec 10, 2012
Canada has signaled it is putting the brakes on foreign state-owned companies investing in Canadian oil sands, following the government's approval of China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s $15 billion takeover bid of Canadian energy company Nexen. Since it was announced in July, state-owned CNOOC's offer for Nexen had triggered debates on whether Canadian oil and natural gas reserves shoul ... read more


ENERGY TECH
To the moon and back for less than 2 billion dollars

NASA's GRAIL Creates Most Accurate Moon Gravity Map

Chinese astronauts may grow veg on Moon

WSU researchers use 3-D printer to make parts from moon rock

ENERGY TECH
Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland

Opportunity Continues Rock Studies

Orbiter Spies Where Rover's Cruise Stage Hit Mars

NASA to send new rover to Mars in 2020

ENERGY TECH
What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity?

Scientists say NASA's budget inadequate for its goals

What trends will take upper hand in space exploration?

To reach final frontier, NASA can't go it alone: analysts

ENERGY TECH
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

ENERGY TECH
Medical Ops, Fan Checks for Space Crew; New Trio Checks Soyuz

Khrunichev Completes Nauka Space Station Module

New Crew of ISS to Perform Two Spacewalks

Space Station to reposition for science

ENERGY TECH
SPACEX Awarded Two EELV Class Missions From The USAF

Russia Set to Launch Telecoms Satellite for Gazprom

Sea Launch Delivers the EUTELSAT 70B Spacecraft into Orbit

S. Korea readies new bid to join global space club

ENERGY TECH
Astronomers discover and 'weigh' infant solar system

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

Brown Dwarfs May Grow Rocky Planets

ENERGY TECH
Malaysia orders Australian miner to ship out waste

$99 Google laptops for schools sold out

Microsoft to sell Surface at retail stores

Google sells off more Motorola assets




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement