DEBKAfile: A Saudi military unit posted on Tiran island

Saudi Arabia last week deployed a military unit on Tiran island which is located at the southern entry to the Gulf of Aqaba opposite the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. This is reported by DEBKAfile’s military sources. Egyptian president Abdel Fatteh El-Sisi last year handed the island to Saudi Arabia. There is no information on whether the international MFO force posted there under the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace accord is still in place alongside the Saudi force, or withdrew to its Sinai base.  The Egyptian high court has scheduled for March 3 the hearing of a petition against the transfer of Tiran to Saudi Arabia filed by a group of Egyptian lawyers.