After warship seen in Suez, IDF says assets in ‘multiple arenas’

After an Israeli warship was spotted transiting the Suez Canal over the weekend, the IDF said on Monday that Israeli naval forces were deployed in “multiple arenas.”

Vessel rotations occur “according to plans and in line with ongoing situational assessments,” the IDF said in reply to a JNS inquiry.

On Saturday, video of what appeared to be an Israeli Navy Sa’ar 5 class missile corvette passing through the canal was widely circulated on the Internet. The Sa’ar 5 was recently succeeded by the Sa’ar 6-class, manufactured for the Israeli Navy by Germany.

The video shows the ship flying both Israeli and Egyptian flags in accordance with regulations requiring that the host nation’s flag be flown next to that of the transiting vessel.

A small crowd of onlookers can be seen observing the unusual scene, with two smaller Egyptian police boats escorting the vessel. IDF sailors can be seen standing on the deck.

While Egypt has maintained a peace treaty with Israel since 1979, it has been described as a “cold peace,” with the government in Cairo and on the Egyptian street often hostile toward Jerusalem. Despite this, Cairo has been one of the leading mediators in the year-long negotiations over the release of Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023.

The initial outrage over the video prompted the Suez Canal Authority to issue a statement on Sunday.

“In response to questions raised on some social media platforms about the Suez Canal Authority allowing warships of different nationalities to cross the Maritime Channel, the Suez Canals Authority affirms its commitment to the implementation of international conventions that guarantee the freedom of navigation for ships passing the Channel, whether they are commercial or war vessels, without discrimination,” the Egyptian state-owned authority said.

“The citizenship of the ship is in accordance with the articles of the Constantine Agreement, which constitute an essential guarantee to maintain the channel’s status as the most important maritime passage in the world,” the statement continued.

The Convention of Constantinople of 1888 was a multilateral trade treaty concerning control over the Suez Canal which is still in effect today. It established the canal as an open waterway to all ships in peacetime and in war regardless of nationality.