[On Sept. 6, Israel and Russia signed a military cooperation agreement.
Details of the accord, signed during the visit to Moscow by Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak, were not disclosed.]
In July 2010, Israel and the U.S. military held one of their largest
ground force exercises. The Marine Corps sent more than 200 soldiers for
three weeks of training to prepare for CI operations in Afghanistan. Much of
the training took place at the Army's CI center at Tse'elim. Tse'elim hosts
the Mala Urban Warfare Training Center.
"They are really disciplined," Israeli Cpl. Oren Gordan, who
participated in the Marine exercise, said.
Officials said the U.S. military has concluded that Israel served as a
suitable training ground for the mission in Afghanistan. They cited
topography and climate similar to Afghanistan as well as modern
infrastructure and a comfortable environment for Westerners.
"This facility is excellently built," Marine Brig. Gen. Paul Brier,
commander of the force in Europe, said. "We are used to using the facilities
in California and it's great to try new facilities. Our techniques are
similar, but we are learning new ways to do things."
During the Marine training exercise, Israeli and U.S. ground forces
marched nine kilometers for most of the night. The two battalions reached
the outskirts of a mock village and staged an attack that included mortars
and light weapons fire.
"It was my decision, as well as the decision of the American platoon
commander, to complicate the training and be able to see if we could
successfully work together," Lt. Oren Gil, commander of the Israeli
battalion, said.
The assault highlighted Israeli CI methods as well as the difficulties
in joint ground operations. One difficulty was bridging the language gap;
another was the differing methods of battle.
"The biggest fear we had was that the Marines wouldn't be able to
understand us," a senior Israeli officer said. "So from this perspective, it
was a very big success."
Officials said other Western militaries have also sought to use Israel
as a training ground for the NATO mission in Afghanistan. In July, the
German Air Force spent three weeks learning how to use their new Heron-1
unmanned aerial vehicle acquired for its contingent in Afghanistan.
"Once you were the only country fighting in urban environments and the
rest of the world generally did not," Lazros said "But today there are the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for example, and there are a lot of lessons we
can learn from each other."
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