‘Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran’

[Naveed Yaseen]

LAHORE: The head of Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad, has assured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Riyadh would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran. Meir Dagan, the director of Mossad since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility early this year, a report in The Sunday Times said. The Israeli air force has been training for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear site at Natanz in the centre of the country, and other locations for four years, the paper reported. The Israeli press has already published unconfirmed reports of high-ranking Israeli officials, including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, meeting Saudi counterparts on the issue. Riyadh has denied such reports. “The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” an Israeli diplomatic source said last week, the paper said. Tel Aviv and Riyadh do not have formal diplomatic relations, but Mossad maintains “working relations” with the Saudis. A former US ambassador to the United Nations said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace. John Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, said Arab states would condemn a raid publicly, but would be privately relieved to see the threat of an Iranian bomb removed. daily times monitor

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg1_10