CNN confirmed that the weeks following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria witnessed Russia operating several flights to an air base in the Libyan desert, as part of what it considered a Russian plan to provide an alternative supply line for its military presence in Africa and maintain a foothold in the Mediterranean.

The US Foreign Policy Research Institute said that the instability caused by the Houthi missile strikes in Yemen shows the vulnerability of the Mediterranean region to geopolitical turmoil.