The Israel Defense Forces are preparing for what is believed to be an impending deterioration in the naval situation, in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean.
The Israeli Navy’s fleet of four Sa’ar 6-class corvette vessels has been declared operational, more than two years after the arrival of the first ship on Israel’s shores. Three of the four corvettes are already fully operational; the fourth is nearly there.
The new fleet is operational at a very opportune moment.
Iranian forces have been maintaining a military presence in the Red Sea for some time already and using that presence to establish air and naval bases there as well as in the Mediterranean.
Iranian ships – including those that gather intelligence and act as forward bases – are maintaining both a covert and overt presence in the Red Sea and using that presence to attack its enemies, Israel first and foremost.
By December 1, 2022, Iran had struck at least 16 civilian targets in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf in the previous five years.
Then-Defense Minister Benny Gantz warned nearly a year ago (July 2022) that the Iranian presence in the Red Sea is “the most significant in a decade.” He also warned that Iran is expanding its maritime activities, using ships armed with medium and long-range missile systems and advanced combat drones (UAVs).
Gantz Warns Iran’s Military Red Sea Presence ‘Most Significant in Decade’
Iran has stepped up its long-running harassment of international shipping and Western naval operations in the Persian Gulf using combat drones.
The Persian Gulf, located on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula, is just a short sail away from the Red Sea, on the western side of the peninsula. Both are inlets to the Arabian Sea, which is part of the Indian Ocean – but they are also gateways to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, controlled by Egypt.
Iran’s Lebanese proxy, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, is also equipped with surface-to-sea missiles, dozens of them, that are capable of targeting ships, oil rigs (think: ‘Karish gas field’) and sensitive facilities that are located along Israel’s coast.
Hezbollah has also acquired several unmanned underwater vessels, courtesy of Iran, in addition to its Iranian military drones and precision-guided missiles. Gaza’s ruling Hamas terrorist organization and its ally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group — both generously equipped, trained and funded by Iran — are also developing active military naval units.
These myriad threats are all aimed at the State of Israel; but there are others as well. Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Gaza are also coordinating their efforts to focus their weapons on the Jewish State.
Moreover, Iran is busy creating a land corridor leading from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, using the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite Qods Force to command local proxies, including Hezbollah.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, regularly threatens to annihilate Israel, which he refers to as a ‘cancerous tumor in the Middle East that must be removed.’
Reawakening to the Iranian Threat
With Hezbollah operatives, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives, IRGC forces and Iranian military bases marching along Israel’s northern and southern borders — in Syria, Lebanon and Gaza — military leaders in the Jewish State are preparing for the multi-directional conflict that analysts say is likely to come, sooner rather than later.
