Lisa Barrington
Wed., February 2, 2022, 11:44 a.m.
By Lisa Barrington

DUBAI (Reuters) - Israel is taking part in a huge U.S.-led naval exercise in the Middle East, for the first time publicly joining Saudi Arabia and Oman, two counties it has no diplomatic relations with despite its normalisation of ties with some Gulf states.

The International Maritime Exercise 2022 (IMX 22) includes around 60 countries and comes amid heightened Gulf tensions after missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, including a foiled attack aimed at a base hosting U.S. forces.

Israel normalised relations with Gulf states the UAE and Bahrain in 2020, brought together by shared worries about Iran, and first held a joint naval drill with those two countries in November.

But this is the first time Israel has participated in an IMX exercise, and publicly alongside Saudi Arabia with which it has no diplomatic ties.

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/israel-participates-huge-u-gulf-164440368.html