Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown toured the Israel-Lebanon border on Monday together with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
Although this was only the second time that America’s highest-ranking military officer has visited Israel, he seemed to feel at home.
In photos distributed by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Brown and Halevi can be seen flying in a helicopter, listening to a briefing in the IDF Northern Command operations room and sitting side by side at the head of the General Staff table at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.
“It’s almost as if the IDF has two chiefs of staff,” commented a former senior military official.
The IDF does indeed have only one chief of staff, but Brown’s presence in Israel, and the way he was received here, is a clear expression of the deep, unprecedented military cooperation between Israel and the United States. “A military coalition without a military coalition,” is how one source in the defense establishment defined it.
In the past three weeks, in the shadow of the alert over the Iranian regime’s threatened response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, this “coalition” has reached its peak.
During this period, U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East region and is in daily contact with the IDF, has grown tenfold, from a fighting force of 4,000 men to about 40,000 troops, along with two aircraft carriers, a nuclear submarine and hundreds of fighter and reconnaissance aircraft. “This time,” said a source in Israel’s Defense Ministry, “America has gone out of its way for us.”
Conversations between IDF and CENTCOM officers are conducted, of course, only in English. “But it’s an English that understands the Middle East,” said a source involved in these conversations.
“CENTCOM is the partner that’s most comfortable to work with. Suddenly you discover that there’s someone else analyzing Iran, who knows how the region operates. It’s like adding another body to the IDF, expanding its capabilities basket,” said the source.
CENTCOM, by the way, also serves as a liaison body to other armies in the region, those that operate in synchronization with Israel and the United States, but do not maintain direct connections with the IDF.
The reason for CENTCOM’s massive buildup, senior defense and political officials agree, is Iran. “They didn’t come here for Hezbollah,” as one of them put it.
The American declarations, from President Joe Biden downwards, aimed at deterring Iran from attacking, were accompanied by operational moves on the ground, which caused Israel’s greatest enemy to hesitate. And so, while the ayatollahs calculate their steps, the IDF turned its attention to Lebanon.
Security and political sources in Israel claimed this week that the American deterrence made a decisive contribution to halting an Iranian attack, allowing the IDF to concentrate its efforts on the northern front, where a preemptive strike against Hezbollah’s missile and rocket launchers was carried out last Sunday. According to the sources, the Americans were updated about the attack in Lebanon only shortly before the event.
“We and the Americans are coordinated,” said Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaacov Ayish, former military attaché in Washington. “It’s not that we ask them for permission for every offensive action we take. We update them so they understand the significance of our moves and take appropriate steps to protect themselves and us. By the way, they don’t update us on everything either.”
Ayish’s words illustrate well the delicate fabric of relations between senior IDF officials and CENTCOM, two armies that have been working side by side in recent years and have developed a unique shared language and brotherhood in arms.
However, this brotherhood has limits. For example, IDF officers meeting with senior CENTCOM officials come to these meetings pre-briefed on the information they can share, and vice versa.
“It’s a complex relationship, with checks and balances, a lot of discretion, and also personal friendships built over years and many joint exercises,” said a former senior IDF official who worked extensively with the U.S. military. “This is the infrastructure that enables long-term cooperation.”
There’s no doubt about the advantages Israel receives from this infrastructure. “Israel is strong and protects itself,” Halevi said during the joint tour with Brown this week. “Nevertheless, it’s always good to have a strong ally by our side.” We saw a resounding testament to this in the “night of missiles” in April when Iran launched a barrage of over 300 drones and missiles toward Israel, which was thwarted in a brilliant air operation led jointly by the IDF and CENTCOM.
However, the partnership with CENTCOM, like any partnership, also has disadvantages.
“When the U.S. president sends Brown here, he creates control and commitment,” said a former senior IDF officer who knows the political and strategic arena well.
“He forces the IDF to update him, he creates close monitoring of the plans, and he understands what the mood is here. In the end, we’re talking about a superpower whose goal is control, and it thinks about its own interests. In this relationship, the chief of staff gains, but also loses some of his independence. He understands that there are things he can’t do because the Americans are around, and that if we disobey those who are physically protecting us, we’ll be in serious trouble,” he said.
Unprecedented power
On Monday, Aug. 12, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stood in front of the cameras, following persistent rumors circulating in Israel that Iran was planning to attack in the coming hours. Hagari carried a reassuring message for the tense Israeli public, but his words that evening were also directed at another audience.
“We are monitoring what’s happening specifically against Iran with all our capabilities,” he said, “We are also not monitoring alone, but with the United States and with additional partners.”
It was no coincidence that Hagari waved the metaphorical American baseball bat several times during his statement. On that tense day, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that he had ordered the nuclear submarine USS Georgia to be sent to the Middle East.
The Georgia joined the battle group of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, which includes destroyers, missile ships and four fighter squadrons, already on its way to the area. Here, the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt awaited it, including more than 4,000 marines and sailors, deployed in combat formation alongside 12 additional warships.
If anyone had any doubt about America’s intentions, Biden expressed them in his own voice. The day before Hagari’s statement, Biden was caught leaving a church in his hometown of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. When asked what his message to Iran was, the president responded with one word that has become associated with him: “Don’t.”
The Lincoln finally reached its destination on Aug. 22 and was subordinated to CENTCOM. Two days later, Brown arrived for a surprise visit to the Middle East, which included meetings in Jordan and Egypt. It seems this was the last piece in the puzzle that the IDF was waiting to complete. The next day, Aug. 25, about 100 Israeli Air Force planes took off for the strike in Lebanon.
The American buildup in the region was done in full coordination with the IDF. On Aug. 9, Gen. Michael Kurilla, commander of CENTCOM, arrived in Israel for the second time in a week for a meeting with Halevi. In parallel, meetings were held between the heads of IDF branches and some of the General Staff with their counterparts in CENTCOM.
These numerous meetings were coordinated by the Tevel Division in the IDF’s strategy department, responsible for liaising with foreign armies. “There’s a close operational dialogue here,” said a senior military source, “they don’t just throw ships in the sea and planes in the air for no reason.”
From the meetings between the generals and admirals, operational guidelines flowed to the joint working groups, at the level of brigadier generals and colonels, who worked together to formulate action plans and divide areas of responsibility. The conversations were held remotely, using encrypted video systems, and sometimes face-to-face, in joint operations rooms.
These Israeli-American meetings, says a source who participated in them, are conducted as equals, in an open manner and without unnecessary formalities. And yes, sometimes some disagreements escalate into shouting.
“Cooperation with CENTCOM is a strategic asset for Israel,” said former head of IDF Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin. “Think about it: The U.S. has seven aircraft carrier battle groups in total, of which only three or four are operational at any given time. In other words, half of the active American aircraft carriers are currently in our region.
“There’s no doubt that this is part of the reason why the Iranians decided to delay, and perhaps even cancel, their attack. From this perspective, it’s very important that they don’t see only Israel facing them, but also the United States.”
However, the United States has not only superpower capabilities but also superpower interests. Alongside the military meetings, diplomatic contacts were also held in recent weeks to discuss these interests. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone with Biden and met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also met with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who in turn maintained an open channel with Austin.
According to sources familiar with the details, one of the instructions that flowed from the Israeli political echelon to the IDF was to slightly tone down the strike on Hezbollah. “The Americans prefer the region to be quiet and without wars. That’s the starting point,” explained a security source, “but they also understand our need to defend ourselves. There’s always an inherent tension within this system.”
Air defense commander Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav, former spokesperson for the IDF, said, “The United States of America has been giving a masterclass in strategy here in recent weeks. When they send aircraft carriers here, a nuclear submarine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs arrives, Biden says ‘don’t’ and everyone is busy explaining to the Iranians and Hezbollah that they should be careful, there’s no doubt that it affects and deters, and to some extent helps to ‘get them down from the tree.’
“But it’s important to remember that the United States is doing all this [to protect] its own interests—preventing a regional war. When Biden says ‘don’t’ to Iran, he’s also saying ‘don’t’ to Israel.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
