Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi met with the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie on Sept. 1 to discuss regional challenges, an IDF statement said.

“The Chief of the General Staff expressed his appreciation for U.S. commitment to the security of the State of Israel. The Generals expressed their expectation of deepening cooperation between the IDF and CENTCOM,” the statement read.

The CENTCOM change also follows several joint exercises between Israeli F-35 squadrons and American F-35s flying from Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. These drills, dubbed Enduring Lightning, took place in 2020 and came as Israel finalized the Abraham Accords with the UAE and Bahrain that same year.

And last month, Israeli and U.S. forces held joint naval drills as part of the exercise Noble Waters, with the IDF calling it “the beginning of joint efforts between the Israeli Navy and the U.S. Fifth Fleet, as part of the transitioning of IDF matters to the U.S. Central Command.”

However, CENTCOM could always carry out drills with Israel regardless of whether the country was part of its area of operations and regardless of the location of American warplanes.

Realignment was supported by retired Israeli Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion and retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, who wrote in a paper for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in January that despite deep regional cooperation between the two countries, “it became increasingly clear that the threats in question were a mismatch with the existing organizational boundaries.”

“EUCOM was assisting in Israel’s defense, the incoming threats were from CENTCOM’s area — between Iran, Lebanon, and Yemen,” they wrote.

The Jewish Institute for National Security of America also advocated for the move in November, noting that “the recent Abraham Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain both reflect and augur a growing strategic alignment between Israel and key American partners in the Middle East, driven primarily by the worsening Iranian nuclear and regional threats. The next crucial step is for the United States to relocate Israel to the area of responsibility (AOR) for American forces in the Middle East, known as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).”

The Pentagon officially announced the move on Jan. 15, noting that when CENTCOM was set up in 1983, many Mideast countries didn’t recognize Israel. Conflicts, such as the 1991 Gulf War, were made more complex by then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s targeting of Israel with missiles as well as the chance that Israel might intervene.

The IDF has focused on several new exercises with the U.S. and other allies in the last year, and on expanding existing joint drills such as Blue Flag and Noble Dina to include more countries. This included the Falcon Strike exercise in Italy and the Juniper Falcon 21 drill in February, which fell under EUCOM’s area of responsibility.

There was also one-day Tri-Lightning exercise in June with Israeli, British and American F-35s. It involved active and passive air defense operations, according to the U.S. Air Force. And in July, Israel hosted its first Blue Guardian joint UAV drill with five other countries, including the U.S.

OVDA AIR FORCE BASE, Israel — Israeli F-35 fighter jets practiced with fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft from four other countries over a multi-week period, amid a warning that Israel faces fragile fronts in Gaza and that war could be on the horizon.

Blue Flag is a biennial exercise that this year took place at Ovda Air Force Base, southern Israel, and saw drills involving low-altitude flights and the suppression of air defense measures. A total of 725 personnel from Israel, the United States, Greece, Germany and Italy participated.

On the eve of the exercise, which began Nov. 3, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi warned of threats to the country, and about a week into the drills, an Israeli airstrike killed a commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza.

The death of the senior militant was followed by 48 hours of fighting and 450 rockets fired at Israel, of which about 90 percent were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system.

For Israel the operation was designed to deter and neutralize a threat in Gaza amid a much wider threat from the north. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF, said Israel cannot overlook threats from the north, including Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian-backed forces in Syria. Israel has carried out more than 1,000 airstrikes in Syria in recent years, and Iraq’s government has accused Israel of carrying out airstrikes against pro-Iranian militias north of Baghdad. Iran and its proxies have fired rockets at Israel three times since February 2018 and launched drones from Syria to target Israel.

“We are on high alert and ready for various scenarios,” Conricus said. “We will focus on the north and stabilize the south.”

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, who attended the drills, said the event shows off Israel’s cutting-edge platforms like the F-35 and its unique warplane tactics. “It reinforces the idea that Israel has partners with whom it could operate cooperatively in extreme circumstances. Israel stands by its ethos of fighting its own battles and defending itself by itself, but it is possible to imagine wider regional conflicts where Israel would operate with friendly nations, and this exercise enhances the capability for interoperability,” said Shapiro, who is a distinguished fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Indeed, Blue Flag served as an opportunity to improve interoperability between the air forces of Israel, the United States, Greece, Germany and Italy. Israeli Col. M., whose full name is withheld for security reasons, said the exercise was particularly important for combining fourth- and fifth-gen planes. Israel has had the F-35 since 2016 and used it in combat in 2018.

The U.S. Air Force’s 480th Fighter Squadron from Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, brought its expertise in suppressing air defense. Aircraft faced off against Patriot systems, mimicking the threat they might face from enemy surface-to-air missiles. They operated among enemy radars and emitters that simulated surface-to-air and anti-aircraft artillery radar systems. Israel’s 115 Squadron posed as an enemy force in the air and on the ground.

Israel sent 30 fighters jets — including F-15s, F-16s and F-35s — as well as helicopters, drones, a Boeing 707 and Gulfstream G550s. The Gulfstream can be used for airborne early warning. The second-largest component was 12 American F-16s.

Israel and the U.S. also conducted a cyber defense exercise Nov. 7, and Israel practiced with NATO navies to evacuate the wounded from ships during the same week.

And in his first visit to Israel as the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie met with IDF’s Kochavi on Nov. 11. U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein also visited Israel during Blue Flag, meeting Kochavi and Israel Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin.