Eilat, Israel, traditionally a vacation hub located close to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, is now hosting the amphibious transport dock Portland, which in October transited the Strait of Hormuz with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

A Marine logistics battalion, rifle company, light armored reconnaissance company and a high mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, platoon arrived with the group. The Marines will train with Israeli counterterrorism and other elite units, including the Maglan commando unit.

The Marines, assigned to Light Armored Reconnaissance Company, Battalion Landing Team 1/1, offloaded an LAV-25 from the Portland on Monday.

The drill is dubbed Israel Interoperability Exercise 21, and is led by the Israeli Defense Forces ground forces, involving around 500 personnel from the 11th MEU.

The U.S. described it as “a robust demonstration of both nations’ commitment to stability in the region.”

The exercise comes after the shift to CENTCOM area of operations from European Command ― and after increased joint F-35 drills, called Enduring Lightning, took place in 2020.

It was made possible in part by Israel’s new normalization and peace deals with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, where key U.S. forces are based for CENTCOM. This includes the Fifth fleet and air base at Al-Dhafra.

US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said the forces were from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and are participating in the amphibious exercise.

The drill involves urban terrain operations and HIMARS alongside rapid maneuvering training, “as well as professional exchanges on various topics including engineering, medical and explosive ordinance disposal,” NAVCENT said in a statement.

NAVCENT said that the Task Force 51/5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade is leading U.S. participation in the three-week exercise.

“This exercise is part of the next chapter in the U.S. Navy’s and Marine Corps’ longstanding relationship with Israel that is so vital to stability and security in the region,” said Brig. Gen. Farrell Sullivan, commanding general of the task force.

An important time for Israel

The training comes at an important time for Israel, as the country has been increasing the number of joint drills it has with foreign countries.

During the Blue Flag exercise in the second half of October, air force assets from the U.K., U.S., Germany, Italy, Greece, France and India participated.

Photographs in Germany also appeared to show Jordan participating without public acknowledgement.

The commander of the United Arab Emirates Air Force, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Nasser Mohammed Al Alawi, also came to the Blue Flag training. Along with Israel’s Air Force head Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin, the commanders discussed developing cooperation and strengthening relations between the two air forces.

In early October, U.S. Fifth Fleet commander of Vice Admiral Brad Cooper also visited Israel. He met Israel Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, as well as Vice Admiral David Saar Salama.

It was his second visit to Israel since May 2020. At the same time the U.S. destroyer O’Kane docked in Haifa, Israel.

In August, Israel and the U.S. Fifth Fleet conducted the first Noble Waters exercise in the Red Sea.

“During the exercise, the two navies practiced a variety of scenarios including defense and rescue operations,” Israel’s IDF said on Aug. 31. ”The exercise saw the two navies working side by side, learning together and strengthening the connection and familiarity of the two nations’ fleets.”

Two days after the announcement of the Noble Waters drill, Israel’s Kohavi spoke with CENTCOM head Gen. Frank McKenzie about Israel’s realignment to the new command.

The August maritime patrol included the Israeli navy corvette INS Eilat and the U.S. guided-missile cruiser Monterey.

They patrolled in the Gulf of Aqaba in what CENTCOM called a “milestone” in cooperation at the time.

This also comes at a time of increasing tensions in the region between Israel and Iran, and frequent discussions between Israel and the U.S. regarding Iran and other regional issues.

For instance, Israel and the U.S. have been working more closely with Greece in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On Nov. 2 Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz spoke with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

“I had an important discussion with my friend and partner Secretary of Defense Austin about US-Israel coordination vis-à-vis Iranian regional entrenchment and its nuclear aspirations,” Gantz said. “We agreed to meet soon to deepen our discussion on strategic issues and military cooperation.”

The Iran tensions were revealed Wednesday when Iran said it had prevented “piracy” against a fuel tanker, and claimed the U.S. had tried to interdict its oil exports.

Several days earlier, a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer had conducted a “presence patrol” with escorts from Israel, Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This came after the U.S. garrison at al-Tanf in Syria was targeted by Iranian drones.

Israel often uses airstrikes to target Iranian weapon shipments via Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

As the Marines arrived in Eilat, Israel was also holding a nationwide drill focused on preparation for possible multifront war.

This could include facing off against thousands of rockets fired by Hezbollah.

The joint drill, which lasted until Thursday, included elements of Israel’s National Emergency Management Authority and the Home Front Command, together with the Israel police, fire and rescue authority and all government ministries.

The Maglan commando unit in Israel, known as unit 212, is an elite unit that conducts reconnaissance behind enemy lines.

It is part of Israel’s Commando Brigade, along with other elite units.

In 2018 more than 600 Marines trained with Israelis in Juniper Cobra on close urban combat and tunnel warfare operations.

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.