Azerbaijan-Israel covert footprint near Iran prompts regional scrutiny
CNN’s report, based on anonymous sources, claims Israel secretly deployed elite units to southern Azerbaijan during the war with Iran, including drone operations and preparations against an IRGC target; Azerbaijan denies the allegations. The piece notes Azerbaijan’s long-standing arms and oil ties with Israel and argues the leak could burn Baku’s plausible deniability, shift regional dynamics (drawing in Turkey and testing Tehran), and complicate Washington’s TRIPP framework and U.S.-Israel leverage.
