Egyptians’ reaction to the construction of a US military base on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir.
In an article referring to the news published about Tiran and Sanafir islands, Rai Al Youm wrote: The discussion about Tiran and Sanafir islands has been raised again. What is the story of establishing a US military base on these two islands? Does the situation on these two islands allow this? Why has this issue been raised now and before Trump’s visit? What will the reactions be?
The media wrote: In Egypt, the discussion about Tiran and Sanafir islands has been on the agenda again in the past few hours, and new news about the US intention to establish a military base on these two islands to control the sea has been raised, which has brought heated reactions.
Egyptian political and national security analyst Jamal Taha said: This news is not true. Egypt has not yet agreed to the agreement to hand over Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, and this agreement has not been implemented. Egypt has not handed over these two islands, especially after it was assured that there was an intention on the part of Saudi Arabia to hand them over to Washington. If Saudi Arabia has made such a promise to Trump, it is a provocative move aimed at further pressuring Egypt to accelerate the handover of the two islands because its interests lie in it.
Egyptian political science professor Mamun Fandi stated: In the shadow of the genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, this issue should not be addressed. Tiran and Sanafir are rocky and are not suitable for establishing a military base. There is no agriculture or irrigation there, and they need desalination facilities. It is almost impossible to establish a military base there. At least two hundred million dollars are needed to blast the rocks and create an airstrip.
He added: Only one helicopter can land on these two islands. If it were possible to establish a military base or an airstrip, multinational forces would have done so before.
Egyptian analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah also said: Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar and the billions and trillions of dollars that he will earn; Simultaneously with the continuation of the open and hidden normalization with the genocidal regime, and apart from that, the establishment of the US military base in Tiran and Sanafir will mark the end of the Arab world and will create a popular rift between us and the countries of the GCC.
Another Egyptian analyst, Anwar Al-Hawary, also stated: Egypt can oppose many of the demands of the US and others, provided there is political will and internal agreement.
This is while a few days ago, the Egyptian newspaper “Madi Misr” revealed in a report that Saudi Arabia had proposed to the US to establish a military base on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the entrance to the “Gulf of Aqaba”.
According to this report, the main purpose of the US in establishing this base is to monitor the Suez Canal and prevent threats from the passage of suspicious ships, especially ships carrying weapons and military equipment to Gaza or Lebanon, and to contain Ansar Allah in Yemen.