![An Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) Harop UAV, designed to take out air defences in a kamakazi-style attack, seen at the Paris Air Show on June 19, 2013 [Julia Herzog / Wikimedia]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/IAI_Harop_PAS_2013_01-scaled-e1583164455290.jpg?fit=1200%2C797&ssl=1)
Israel is currently in contact with Western countries to establish a regional defence alliance with the participation of several Arab countries, against the “Iranian threat” local Makan reported yesterday.
“Israeli officials’ contact with their Arab counterparts increased in recent days,” the newspaper quotes official sources as saying. It added that talks included a recent call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa as well as a meeting between Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz and Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
In August last year it was reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel were working on a plan to establish a spy base in the Yemeni Island of Socotra, according to JForum, the official sites of the Jewish and French-speaking community. The two countries, which normalised relations earlier that month, had already undertaken steps to install a spy base on the island strategically located in the Arabian Sea some 350 kilometres south of Yemen.
The attack on the Helios Ray leaves Gulf security hanging in the balance