Russia Beefs up Forces in Eastern Mediterranean

NATO monitors all activity in the Mediterranean from planes like the glass-nosed Atlantique 2 on Crete's base of Souda. (AFP)
NATO monitors all activity in the Mediterranean from planes like the glass-nosed Atlantique 2 on Crete's base of Souda. (AFP)
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Russia Beefs up Forces in Eastern Mediterranean

NATO monitors all activity in the Mediterranean from planes like the glass-nosed Atlantique 2 on Crete's base of Souda. (AFP)
NATO monitors all activity in the Mediterranean from planes like the glass-nosed Atlantique 2 on Crete's base of Souda. (AFP)

Russia had reinforced its military capacity in the Mediterranean before invading Ukraine on February 24, military observers said.

Thibault Lavernhe, regional communication officer of the French army in the Mediterranean, said Russia has doubled, if not tripled, its military capacity in the area in terms of destroyers, frigates and submarines.

The Russian presence in the Mediterranean could be used to send military reinforcements and arms to the area, and also fire cruise missiles from warships to support military operations.

Lavernhe revealed that US forces, which had decreased their presence in the area in the past 10 years, are also working to change tactics in the Mediterranean.

"Ukraine has changed things. The Americans are back. This hasn't been the case since the Cold War," the officer said, adding that where there are American forces, the Russians are there too.

The Mediterranean is of strategic importance to the world economy, with 65 percent of EU energy supplies and 30 percent of global commerce, according to the French foreign ministry, passing through the sea with shores in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

There are currently around 20 Russian warships in the sea, Lavernhe told AFP.

The buildup came in the wake of the war in Syria when Moscow began deploying warships in the port of Tartus, the Russian navy's sole repair and re-fueling base in the Mediterranean.

What is new now, Lavernhe said, is that Russian naval forces are now spreading westward - north of Crete, west of Greece in the Peloponnese, and in the northern Aegean Sea, near the Black Sea.

“Russian ships are positioned to monitor the activity of allied forces,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, NATO monitors all activity in the Mediterranean from planes like the glass-nosed Atlantique 2 on Crete's base of Souda.

The long-range patrol aircraft made by France's Dassault is equipped with radar, a 3,200-millimeter camera and systems capable of detecting magnetic fields and picking up nearby radar signals.

The plane's tactical coordinator, Laurent, explains that the aircraft will pick up all vessels encountered during its flight and determine their national affiliation.

"All vessels of over 12 meters must be registered and have an active tracking beacon," he says, discreetly closing a folder with the image of a Russian landing craft on one of the pages.

"If that is not the case, we hail them to establish whether they are smugglers or (other kinds of) illegal activity," he adds.

This information is then shared with the French general staff and NATO command.

Lieutenant Johann, the aircraft's chief officer, who asked that his surname not be used, said that the plane's range enables it to fly as far as the Black Sea, but that could potentially antagonize the Russians.

"We are not in a crisis situation in this area. The objective is simply to safeguard European security," he said.



Pressure Mounts on Netanyahu as Opposition Moves to Dissolve Parliament

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks after a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks after a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pressure Mounts on Netanyahu as Opposition Moves to Dissolve Parliament

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks after a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks after a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. (Reuters)

A member of Israel's right-wing coalition threatened to quit the cabinet on Wednesday and support an opposition motion to dissolve parliament tabled for next week, piling pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Latest opinion polls suggest that Netanyahu's coalition would lose power if an election was held today, with many voters unhappy over the continued war in Gaza prompted by the attack by Hamas on southern Israel in October 2023.

United Torah Judaism, one of two ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition, said it would withdraw from the government unless it secured last-minute concessions formalizing an exemption for ultra-Orthodox men from military service.

The opposition party Yesh Atid, led by former prime minister Yair Lapid, put forward a parliamentary vote for next week to topple the government, even as the Israeli army continues battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It would require the support of 61 out of the 120 members of the parliament to succeed.

"This Knesset (parliament) is finished. It has nowhere to go," Lapid said.

Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has remained silent on the looming crisis.

A spokesperson for United Torah Judaism leader Yitzhak Goldknopf told Reuters the party would vote in favor of dissolving parliament unless exemption legislation was passed.

With a week until the vote, Netanyahu and his allies still have time to negotiate over an issue that has dogged the coalition for months.

A source close to the government said, on condition of anonymity, that negotiations within the coalition were continuing.

Netanyahu's coalition of secular right-wing and ultra-Orthodox parties holds an 8-seat majority in parliament. United Torah Judaism has 7 seats while its ally, Shas, the other ultra-Orthodox party, has 11.

BETTING ON A BLUFF

The coalition is sharply divided over whether young ultra-Orthodox men who are studying in religious seminaries should be exempt from mandatory military service.

Failing to pass an exemption risks a walkout by ultra-Orthodox lawmakers, while approving it could trigger a protest exit by secular parties.

Coalition member Ohad Tal of Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party criticized Goldknopf for threatening to trigger elections and called on the ultra-Orthodox lawmaker to resign.

He urged others to negotiate a new arrangement but that a blanket exemption from military service could no longer stand.

Former Knesset member Ofer Shelah said Netanyahu was likely betting the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers were bluffing, given the polls suggested they faced defeat in any early election.

In March, ultra-Orthodox lawmakers threatened to bring down the government over the same issue, but time passed without any action. Resentment over the informal exemption given to religious seminary students is growing and lawmakers from the ruling coalition and opposition ranks say it is no longer tenable.

Netanyahu won election in 2022 and does not have to return to the polls until 2026. Historically, few Israeli governments serve a full term.

He has faced widespread criticism for failing to prevent the surprise October 2023 Hamas attack that killed roughly 1,200 people, and is facing growing calls from protesters and families of hostages still held in Gaza to end the war to secure their release.

But some in his coalition say the war must continue until Hamas is eradicated.

Political analysts say that the ultra-Orthodox lawmakers could simply quit the government to protest their failure to secure concessions, without toppling the ruling coalition.