Jerusalem, May 15 (IANS). Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir and other senior officers secretly visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) during the recent war with Iran. This information was given by Israel’s official Kan TV News on Friday.
According to the channel, during this visit, Zameer met UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and some senior security officials.
However, the channel did not disclose the date on which the visit took place. This war started on 28 February and ended with a ceasefire on 8 April.
On Wednesday, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that he also made a secret visit to UAE during this war and met the President there. But, the UAE Foreign Ministry said that the talk of Netanyahu coming to the country is not true.
Earlier, media reports also said that David Barnia, head of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, and David Zinni, head of domestic security agency Shin Bet, had also made a secret visit to UAE during this period.
Kan TV also said that all these visits point towards growing relations between Israel and the UAE. Over the years, the UAE has become an important regional partner of Israel, especially after the normalization agreements that were made under the Abraham Accords. Cooperation between the two countries has steadily increased in areas such as trade, technology, tourism and intelligence sharing, although tensions sometimes remain in the region.
However, Netanyahu’s alleged secret visit indicates that talks may now have moved beyond just normal diplomatic ties.
Experts on regional affairs believe that issues like security coordination, regional stability, economic partnership and the changing geopolitical situation of West Asia would have been discussed in these meetings.
Israeli political analysts have described the development as one of the most sensitive diplomatic steps taken by Netanyahu in recent months.
–IANS
AY/ABM