US, Israel begin large joint military exercise
Mike Brest
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The U.S. military and its Israeli counterparts began conducting a massive joint military exercise on Monday.
The live-fire exercise, named Juniper Oak, integrates military assets and missions and includes over 140 aircraft, including B52s, F35s, F15s, F16s, FA-18s, AC-130, AH64s, 12 naval vessels, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems. The USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group will also partake in the exercise, according to CNN.
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“Consistent with CENTCOM‘s strategic approach of People, Partners, and Innovation, we are committed to strengthening military-to-military relations throughout the region,” said Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM. “Juniper Oak is a Combined Joint All-Domain exercise which improves our interoperability on land, in the air, at sea, in space, and in cyberspace with our partners, enhances our ability to respond to contingencies, and underscores our commitment to the Middle East.”
Approximately 6,400 U.S. personnel and 1,100 Israeli personnel are participating in the exercise.
“These kinds of exercises — which CENTCOM routinely conducts with our partners — develop interoperability between military forces, increase military capabilities, and are important to the security and stability of the region. The lessons learned during these exercises are exportable to our partners across the region,” Kurilla concluded.
The joint exercise comes as the U.S. and much of the world are focused on Russia‘s war in Ukraine, which has now spanned nearly 11 months. While Russia has lost many of its allies over the course of the war, the Kremlin has strengthened its ties to Iran, one of Israel’s biggest threats. Iran has provided Russia with hundreds of drones that they’ve used to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure mainly in the fall as the winter conditions set in.
U.S. officials have expressed concern about the growing relationship between the two countries, with national security adviser Jake Sullivan saying earlier this month that Iran may be “contributing to widespread war crimes” in Ukraine.
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Iran has decided “to go down a road where their weapons are being used to kill civilians in Ukraine and to try to plunge cities into cold and darkness, which from our point of view, puts Iran in a place where it could potentially be contributing to widespread war crimes.”
A senior defense official said the Pentagon believes the exercise with Israel shows that “we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” according to NBC News.