🇮🇱⚔️🇹🇷⚡️Israel on Alert for the Turkish-Libyan Memorandum!

Tel Aviv's armed forces and secret services are closely monitoring the Turkish plan to wipe out Gavdos and Crete.

Israel's armed forces and intelligence services are on heightened alert, as the Turkish-Libyan memorandum and Ankara's escalating military presence in the Mediterranean are now assessed as a direct threat to the country's strategic, energy and maritime interests.

“Israeli defense officials stressed that the Intelligence Directorate has not ignored developments in the region and must examine any development that could affect the interests of Israel and its allies. The developments come in the context of Israeli energy agreements with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt,” reported The Jerusalem Post.

As the Israeli newspaper reports in its analysis, the IDF Intelligence Directorate (Aman), the Mossad and the country’s Naval Intelligence Service are closely monitoring the “Libyan maritime corridor.” According to the report, “the agreement creates an artificial corridor stretching from the coast of Turkey to the coast of Libya, while completely ignoring the chain of Greek islands between them, including Crete and Rhodes.”

This arbitrary division of the maritime area poses serious risks to freedom of navigation and broader stability. As the newspaper highlights, “this move involves armed Turkish activity in the area and essentially divides the Mediterranean Sea in two.” In return for military support for Libya, “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured a presence in Libyan ports, an air presence, and rights to explore for energy resources on Libyan territory.” This situation “allows Turkey to establish military infrastructure in the area and disrupt military and political activity, including political navigation, far beyond its internationally recognized borders.”

Israel’s interest is directly focused on the energy plans and infrastructure being developed in the Eastern Mediterranean in cooperation with Athens and Nicosia. As The Jerusalem Post explains, “the Turkish-Libyan agreement and its implications aim to block, or at least disrupt, the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Israel to Cyprus, via Greece and then to Europe,” as Ankara illegally claims that any such project requires Turkish approval. At the same time, strong concerns are being expressed about the laying of undersea electrical interconnection and telecommunications cables.

The Israeli security establishment is increasingly concerned as 98% of the country’s imports are made by sea. Senior officials see Ankara’s moves as an attempt to “contain and isolate Israel, in addition to what they see as clear and immediate threats from Erdogan.” At the same time, intelligence agencies are closely monitoring Hamas’s efforts to create logistical infrastructure in the region, leveraging Turkish influence in Libya.

📰 Dimokratia