Thread by @lennybendavid

#Sudan talks with #UAE, US could lead to normalization with #Israel - report jpost.com/middle-east/su…

Thread: Why Sudan's reorientation potentially ranks up there with Egypt kicking out the Soviets in the 1970s.

2/ #Sudan, like #Egypt will not be a liberal democracy in our lifetime. Last yr, the military overthrew dictator & war criminal Omar Al Bashir after widespread protests vs his 30-year rule. Beset by flooding, the country needs relief, but is restricted by terrorism sanctions.

3/ How bad was Sudan? Osama bin Laden lived there 1991-1996. Al Qaeda terrorists rec'd Sudanese passports & bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Not enough? Al Bashir got in bed with Iran.
Pic: Iran Navy transport ship Kharg in Port Sudan 2012. Suspected of carrying arms.

4/ #Sudan was a way-station for Iranian arms to #Hamas. A truck convoy of arms was destroyed in an air attack in 2012. A weapons factory was also destroyed.
Iran offered to train Sudan's army. Look at the map: Port Sudan was midway bw the strategic Bab el Mandab and the Suez.

5. Nevertheless, #Israel maintained quiet relations w South Sudan & Sudan, using other African nations as go-between. As DirGen of the ForMin, @DrDoreGold prioritized Africa. In Feb 2020, Sudan's military head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met w Israeli PM Netanyahu in Uganda.

6/ Two days later, #Sudan announced it would permit planes from #Israel to overfly the country, cutting flight time to South America considerably.
Israeli overflight of Saudi Arabia now saves considerable time to India and the far east.
Opening the world.

7/ If #Iran is out of #Sudan, who wants in? #Turkey.
In 2017, Turkey's Erdogan visited Suakin Island w Sudan's Omar Al Bashir. An ancient Ottoman port located on the Red Sea, it is located opposite Saudi Arabia & bw/ Bab el Mandab & Suez Canal. See what "Turkish News" wrote.