The opening of the base signifies Egypt's determination to assert itself as a regional naval power with vast capacities and challenge efforts by its competitors like Turkey to expand their area of influence and control oil and gas rich zones of the Mediterranean.
"The Saudis might be demonstrating that they can go to other sources and solutions for air defense through building on the worsening of US-Turkish relations, at the heart of which is US unhappiness over Turkish acquisition of the Russian S-400 air defense system,” Yezid Sayegh, senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, says.
Answering the Pentagon’s call to bolster defense industrial base.