(MENAFN) Officials said on Thursday that remote-controlled cameras will take over from US-led peacekeepers in ensuring international commerce has unfettered access to the Gulf of Aqaba, whose shoreline is shared by Israel and three Arab states.
Between Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the deserted Tiran and Sanafir islands. In 2016, Egypt handed over the islands to Saudi Arabia.
The Gulf of Aqaba is Israel's only maritime access to its southern port of Eilat, and it is crucial to the country's trading relations with Southeast Asia.
During a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia last week, US President Joe Biden announced the departure of the modest Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) force on Tiran.
The MFO monitors a 1979 US-brokered peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, which placed troops throughout the demilitarized Sinai and atop Tiran to ensure unimpeded transportation into and out of the Gulf of Aqaba.
Any MFO redeployment from the island requires the approval of Egypt, the United States, and Israel. None of those countries, nor the MFO, have officially said when the contingent will depart or what will happen next.
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