Posted on 11/05/2010 5:31:27 AM PDT by Strategy
Egypt and Saudi Arabia are preparing themselves for war with Iran. The two Arab countries just held their first joint military exercises called Tabuk-2 over a one-week period, simulating a scenario unofficially based on a potential conflict with the Iranians. The exercises took place in the northern Egyptian desert and included F-16 aircraft, helicopters, and artillery units. The forces practiced defending against an enemy offensive and counter-attacking with an invasion into the attacker's territory.
The Israeli intelligence website Debkafile accurately analyzes what this scenario means. They note that the commander of the Saudi forces in the exercise was Prince Khaled Bin Sultan of the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. His most recent experience was in leading the Saudi forces fighting the extremist Shiite Houthis in Yemen that spearheaded a proxy war waged by Iran. The Egyptians and Saudis are preparing to defend Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province from an Iranian assault. This province is about three-fourths Shiite and is the location of about 90 percent of the Saudi oil production. It is ripe for instability and Iranian-backed subversion.
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
http://www.saudinewstoday.com/article/32841__Saudi+-Egyptian+Joint+Exercise+%27Tabuk+2%27+Continues
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=1409696&lang=eng_news
I have used Debka tip-offs in the past, verified the true portions and found credible sources to post.
I no longer post Debka articles because they have gotten so out of hand in their hysterics over Iran.
Now I spend more time calming FR readers down over the latest Debka article that gets posted, by fact checking and laying out the truth.
Just last week there was a Debka post saying that the Iwo Jima carrier group was about to attack Yemen, and on the same day there was an article about the Iwo standing by to aid in the coming hurricane Tomas in Haiti.
Debka doesn't even google the talking points in their own articles. They are not a serious news organization and should be restricted to the blog posts on FR.
Agreed on the Iranian military capabilities. It is a real stretch to imagine how Egypt feels threatened by Iran. Any war games between KSA and Egypt would have to be focused on common threats such as al-shabab and Somalia instability.
Their joint games did take place, but the numbers were pretty small. Probably the fact that they held these in Saudi Arabia, rather than Egypt (which is also mostly wasteland) is the only evidence for their raison d’etre.
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