Feb 3, 2022: Israel and Bahrain have signed a security cooperation agreement, amid growing tensions in the region during the visit of the Israeli defense minister to the Gulf state.

Bahrain, along with the UAE, normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, partly out of shared concerns about Iran. The deals enraged the Palestinians, who felt a betrayal of their national cause.

According to a statement by the Israeli Defense Ministry, “The MOU [memorandum of understanding] framework will support any future cooperation in the areas of intelligence, mil-to-mil [military to military], industrial collaboration and more,”

Moreover, Israel’s Defense Minister, Benny Gantz said, “Only one year following the signing of the [Abraham] Accords, we have achieved an important defence agreement which will contribute to the security of both countries and the stability of the region.”

According to an Israeli official, the agreement with Bahrain was the first such pact that Israel had reached with one of its new allies in the Gulf.

Earlier in the day, Gantz visited the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Bahrain hosts some operations for the Fifth Fleet headquarters as well as for CENTCOM, the umbrella organization of US military coordination for the region that Israel joined last year.

The visit comes at a time when tensions in the region are rising over the uncertainty surrounding the nuclear deal with Iran and the ongoing war in Yemen. The US and Israel have accused Iran of attacking several ships in the Gulf, including Israeli cargo ships.

The UAE said on Wednesday it had intercepted three drones entering its airspace in uninhabited areas in the fourth such attack in the past few weeks. The first three attacks were launched by the Houthi movement in Yemen, led by Saudi Arabia and including the United Arab Emirates, with a growing military alliance.

Israel has acknowledged intensifying naval operations in the Red Sea, a key waterway in the region. Israel is taking part in US-led naval exercises in 60 countries in the Middle East this week, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Even before the Abraham Accords, Israel and Bahrain have maintained secret security ties for years, rooted in their concerns about Iran. Since the agreement however, countries have opened embassies, signed numerous agreements, and established direct flights and established business relations.

Bahrain whose population is predominantly Shiite, is ruled by a Sunni family and has accused Tehran of arming groups and fomenting discord on the island, particularly since the revolution in Iran, a claim which shia Iran has denied.

Normalization with Israel is a contentious issue for Bahrain’s Shiite majority, which has long accused the country’s Sunni Muslim rulers of treating them as second-class citizens.

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