Source: The Tahrir Institute For Middle East Policy
Author(s): Timothy E. Kaldas
Original Link: https://timep.org/commentary/tiran-sanafir-and-the-island-of-executive-power-in-egypt/
From an outside perspective, the transfer of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabian control may seem relatively uneventful. The Straits of Tiran can easily be controlled or defended from Sinai given how narrow the waterway is, and documents exist to suggest that Saudi did indeed transfer the islands in 1950 to Egypt in the hope that Egypt’s larger military would be able to defend them. Saudi fears of invasion were well founded; its confidence in Egypt’s military less so. During the Six Day War of 1967 Israel seized the islands after declaring Egypt’s closing of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli traffic was casus belli…
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