First of all, it has 11 players. Here, let's count them off as they pass by,
Egypt allowed at least one Israeli and 11 American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches Gaza. Egypt closed the canal to protect the ships with thousands of soldiers, according to the British-based Arabic language newspaper Al Quds al-Arabi.I guess the Israeli ship makes it Canadian football after all.
One day prior to the report on Saturday, Voice of Israel government radio reported that the Egyptian government denied an Israeli request not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal to reach Gaza, in violation of the Israeli sea embargo on the Hamas-controlled area.
International agreements require Egypt to keep the Suez open even for warships, but the armada, led by the USS Truman with 5,000 sailors and marines, was the largest in years. Egypt closed the canal to fishing and other boats as the armada moved through the strategic passageway that connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas.
... and hey, no Jewish Sports Legends jokes - Jews play football too - even the CFL.
Interesting times indeed.
ReplyDeleteUS Warships going through Suez is relatively common?
ReplyDeleteQuestion - since 11 or 12 warships is a relatively long 'train' through the canal, did this make it a unique situation to close the canal?
When IKE transits Suez in the next few weeks after being relieved by the Truman CSG, will they close it again?
didn't mean to put the question mark after the first sentence - was making a statement. Navy.mil has photos of the 'peace' bridge relatively often over the last few years, both when CSG's and ARG's go through.
ReplyDeleteStill wondering why this is unique.
The good news is USN and even Israelis are not banned from using Suez.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news is Iranians are passing freely too.
Those that know wont talk.. those that dont know say anything...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read it's the number of ships in this case, so a carrier by itself wouldn't be a great issue.
ReplyDelete