Russian Submarine Detected Near Israeli Coast After Operating in Waters Unseen

A submarine from the Russian Navy was reportedly detected by the Israeli Navy just 15km from the country’s Mediterranean coast, after operating unseen in the country’s territorial waters for an unknown period of time. The Russian Navy was reportedly contacted through the Russian-Israeli military coordination mechanism and the submarine subsequently departed for international waters. The class of submarine remains unknown, but Russia notably retains a sizeable base for warships in neighbouring Syria which is currently being expanded. Israeli media highlighted that the Israeli Defence Forces had failed to detect the warship entering the country’s waters, raising questions regarding the strength of the country’s defences at sea.

Israel’s Navy has long been the smallest branch of the country’s armed forces, and with the majority of threats to emanating from forces which are overwhelmingly land based, in recent years namely from the North Korean and Iranian backed militia Hezbollah which lacks any meaningful naval capacity, concerns have been raised that the country’s maritime security has been neglected. Iran has notably invested heavily in developing medium-endurance cruise missile submarines, which with integration of North Korean independent air propulsion systems are thought to be capable of operating very quietly away from Iranian waters.