Israeli Attack on Sudan Exposes Iran’s Links With North Africa

 

Israel bombed a weapons factory in Khartoum on October 24, according to the Sudanese government and anonymous government sources cited across the media. The attack appears to be a resounding success for Israel, but it also risks accelerating the drift of Sudan and Egypt towards Iran.

Britain’s Sunday Times reported that eight F-15I fighters bombed the factory on the outskirts of Khartoum. “This was a show of force but it was only a fraction of our capability—and of what the Iranians can expect in the countdown to the spring,” it quoted a defense source saying.

The Times reported that Mossad uncovered close links between Sudan and Iran. They claim that in 2008, the two nations signed an agreement allowing Iran to build and operate a weapons factory. A large number of Iranian experts were sent to the factory, where they worked under the supervision of Iran’s revolutionary guards.

The missiles manufactured here “could be launched towards Israel from either Sudan or from the Sinai Peninsula,” an Israeli security expert said. “They pose a direct threat.”

The strike appears to have been successful, but in the aftermath, Sudan isn’t changing its relationship with Tehran. An Iranian navy task force docked in Sudan on October 29. Iranian state media reported that the ships left Iran last month and were on a mission “conveying the message of peace and friendship to the neighboring countries and ensuring security for seafaring and shipping lanes against marine terrorism and piracy.” Sudan’s military said that the ships’ presence represents the strong ties between the two countries.

The attack also exposes a growing relationship between Egypt and Sudan. Sudan’s rulers are part of an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, so it’s no surprise that they get on well with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. Morsi used part of his maiden speech to the UN to praise Sudan and encourage the international community to come to its aid. Sudan “has not received the support it deserves,” he said.

Since the attack, Morsi has vehemently supported Sudan over Israel. He telephoned Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to condemn the “Israeli aggression against Sudan.”

At the end of August, Wikileaks published e-mails it says came from Stratfor showing that Egypt had reached an agreement to operate a small airbase in Sudan in 2010 to prevent Ethiopia from building a new dam on the Nile. Since then, Ethiopia has unveiled plans for an even bigger dam. Stratfor writes that “Even direct military action by Egypt cannot be ruled out,” but emphasize this is the least likely option. Egypt would first try to coax or cajole Ethiopia away from the project through diplomatic pressure or by supporting anti-Ethiopian terrorist groups, Stratfor says.

The project forces Egypt to maintain a close alliance with Sudan so it can keep maximum pressure on Ethiopia. Rather than distance itself from Sudan after the attacks, Egypt will rally around its southern neighbor.

The Sudan-Iranian and Sudan-Egyptian ties will evolve into a regional alliance between North Africa and Iran. This alliance will ultimately, and perhaps violently, draw in Ethiopia.

For more information on this growing alliance, read our new special report “Libya and Ethiopia in Prophecy.”