Admiral Castex and the Israeli Navy: A Holistic View of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East

The post-regime change order debates in Syria have strengthened the place of the Eastern Mediterranean on the agenda. In this context, Israel’s maritime strategy has been considered noteworthy for both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. The study examines this strategy through French Admiral Raoul Castex's approach to naval strategy for non-hegemonic states and seeks an answer to the question of how Israel shapes its contacts with the Middle East through the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean. Admiral Castex focuses on the maritime behaviour of regional powers and emphasizes two important approaches: improving the ability of manoeuvre and the primacy of the offensive. Within the framework of these two approaches, the study examines the Israeli navy in the Eastern Mediterranean between 2011 and 2024. Thus, on the one hand, it draws the hegemonic state-oriented approach of classical naval studies to the regional level, and on the other hand, it aims to portray the naval behaviour of Israel, which is an important party to regional competition, through its contacts with the Middle East.