Axios: A secret meeting in Bahrain that included generals from Israel, the US and Arab countries
Israel’s top generals met this week in Bahrain with their counterparts from Arab armies to discuss security cooperation in the region, according to Axios website.
The meeting, held under the auspices of US Central Command (CENTCOM), was held in secret due to regional political sensitivities over the war in Gaza, according to Axios.
The meeting was held in the presence of Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, as well as the head of the US Central Command, General Michael “Eric” Corella.
Axios said senior generals from Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt attended Monday’s meeting in Manama.
Axios noted that the meeting served as an indication that military dialogue and cooperation between Israel and Arab countries continues under supervision of CENTCOM regardless of the criticism and condemnation of Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Israeli forces declined Axios’ request for comment, and Centcom didn’t respond directly to the site’s requests for comment on questions about the meeting.
Over the past years, CENTCOM and the Pentagon have worked with militaries in the region to increase air cooperation and missile defense systems.
The United States considered thwarting Iran’s missile and drone attack on April 13 as a result of this cooperation with countries in the region.
US officials said cooperation between Israel and Arab states in the region allowed them to gather intelligence and come up with advance warnings of an attack.
Officials point out that the cooperation included the active participation of Jordan and Saudi Arabia in intercepting missiles and drones that penetrated their airspace after being launched from Iran, Iraq and Yemen towards Israel, according to Axios.
Last month, Iran confirmed that it held indirect talks with the United States in Oman amid regional tension over the war in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported at the time.
Relations between the United States and Iran were severed following the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The two countries have been at odds for decades over several issues, including Tehran’s nuclear program, exacerbated by the war in Gaza between US ally Israel and Iran’s ally Hamas.
The talks took place after an unprecedented drone and rocket attack by Iran on Israel on the night of April 13-14.
The Iranian strike came in response to the destruction of the Iranian consulate in Syria on April 1 in a strike attributed to Israel in which seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, including two senior officers, were killed.
The Israeli military said the vast majority of the missiles and drones fired by Iran, more than 300, were intercepted with the help of the United States and other allies, and that the attack caused only minor damage.
Less than a week after explosions erupted in Iran’s Isfahan province, US media said they were caused by an Israeli attack in response to the Iranian strike.
Tehran has since downplayed reports of an Israeli strike and said it would not retaliate unless Iran’s interests were targeted.
Israel and Iran have been at hostility since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979.
Regional tensions have worsened since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the entry of pro-Iranian armed factions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen to the escalation line on several regional fronts.
It’s worth noting that Switzerland represent the United State interests in Iran.
In recent years, there have been indirect talks between Tehran and Washington on mechanisms to curb the nuclear program, exchange prisoners and free Iranian funds frozen abroad.
