Cameras To Replace Peacekeepers on Island in Red Sea Straits
US-led peacekeepers on Tiran island, at the mouth of the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba, will be replaced by remote-controlled cameras, unnamed officials say. Egypt transferred to Saudi Arabia control of both Tiran and neighboring Sanafir island, located in the Straits of Tiran, in 2017. The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), which monitors the demilitarized Sinai Desert since the 1979 signing of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, has maintained a small contingent on Tiran island to ensure freedom of access for international shipping to the Gulf of Aqaba. US President Joe Biden promised in his recent trip to Saudi Arabia to withdraw the MFO troops from Tiran. This redeployment must be OKed by not only the US but Egypt and Israel, as well. Reuters quotes an unnamed official from one of the three countries as saying that “the peacekeepers will be replaced by a camera-based system.” The MFO base at Sharm el-Sheikh in Sinai is already using cameras to help keep the peace, and Reuters says a diplomatic source who visited Tiran confirmed that the MFO was using them there, as well. The use of cameras on Tiran to monitor the waterway after the MFO has withdrawn could require security coordination between Israel and Saudi Arabia, despite their lack of formal ties.
This holiday season, give to:
Truth and understanding
The Media Line's intrepid correspondents are in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Pakistan providing first-person reporting.
They all said they cover it.
We see it.
We report with just one agenda: the truth.
