The U.S. and Israeli militaries began a joint exercise in Israel and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to boost “collective U.S.-Israeli readiness and improve[] the interoperability of both forces”. CENTCOM’s commander maintained that “these kinds of exercises – which CENTCOM routinely conducts with our partners – develop interoperability between military forces, increase military capabilities, and are important to the security and stability of the region. The lessons learned during these exercises are exportable to our partners across the region”. Three days later, CENTCOM announced the conclusion of what it described as “the largest U.S.-Israel partnered exercise in history”.