Israel works with Arab allies to down Iranian drones, in sign of growing ties

Over the past decade, Iran and its proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq have increasingly used drones to attack Israel, American forces in the Middle East and Sunni Arab states, including against oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this year.

While the biggest long-term threat from Iran is its nuclear program, Tehran’s opponents are concerned by the drones because their small size and relatively slow speed make them hard to detect and intercept — and because they are already causing damage.

Announced last month by Israel, the new initiative, the Middle East Air Defense project, is an attempt to shore up the region’s defenses against drones. The idea is to allow its participants to alert one another instantly about incoming drone attacks, through the coordination of the U.S. Central Command. Israel has already warned some Arab countries about an imminent drone strike, a senior Israeli defense official said.

In the future, Israel hopes participants will be connected to the same radar system, eliminating the need to send one another warnings.