News
Ya’alon indicates Israel and Jordan completed joint air manoeuvers
Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon gave a tacit admission yesterday that Israeli and Jordanian pilots flew alongside each other in a recent joint exercise in the United States.
Around ten Israeli military aircraft are thought to have participated in the American Red Flag training exercises in Nevada. Red Flag is considered the US’s premier air-to-air combat training exercise and an important opportunity to train with allied air forces. It was the first time that Israel has participated in the exercise since 2009. US website Foxtrot Alpha said that Israeli aircraft were joined by Jordanian fighter jets and Reuters reported that Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 jets were accompanied across the Atlantic Ocean by Israeli Air Force KC-707 fuel tankers.
Ya’alon spoke yesterday at a kibbutz leadership conference and appeared to confirm the reports, saying that Israel participated in Red Flag and that, “There were Arab pilots there too, and pilots from the various branches of the United States military and other countries.” Although Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994 and have enjoyed relatively warm relations since then, such collaboration would signal a new level of cooperation between the two countries.
Ya’alon also reiterated yesterday that Israel will not tolerate the attempted transfer of weapons to terrorists, especially chemical weapons, across the porous Syria-Lebanon border. He pledged that “Those who cross the red lines will be hit.” Israel has long maintained that it will act to prevent weapons transfers, but has not explicitly admitted to carrying out such an operation. It was reported in the Arabic-language media that Israeli jets struck Hezbollah positions several days ago in the al-Qalamoun region to the north of Damascus, in order to prevent weapons being received by the terror group.
Meanwhile, Ya’alon told the Knesset’s Joint Committee on the Defence Budget yesterday that the defence allocation must be increased, in order to “equip, operate and properly address [Israel’s] security needs.” The Knesset must approve the state budget later this month.