Israel, U.S. to cooperate on security in Jordan, Syria

The Israeli defense minister announced Wednesday that the country is prepared to cooperate with the United States in countering the threat posed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said that Israel will help the U.N. Security Council in carrying out a new initiative to tackle the threat from ISIL.

The Israeli defense ministry, Yaalon explained, will also assist the United Nations in creating a joint initiative to counter the threat of the ISIL group.

According to Yaalon, the plan envisages the creation of a joint military operation center in Jordan and a military-intelligence operation center and training centers in Syria to tackle ISIL’s military and terrorist activities.

The center will focus on preventing, detecting, disrupting and destroying terrorist activities and activities of groups affiliated with ISIL and other groups that pose a threat to the security of the state.

“We will provide training to Jordanian intelligence, and the Jordanian military, to develop new capabilities and counter ISIL’s terror operations,” Yaalon added.

The announcement was met with cheers by a group of Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Yaalon’s announcement came after President Trump signed a bill that aims to provide additional funds to Israel to counter Islamic State’s influence and attacks.

The White House said in a statement that the bill would provide the funding to fund the establishment of a military command center in the Jordan Valley and training and security measures for Israel’s forces.

Israel has not taken part in the U-S.-led coalition against ISIL since the military campaign began in 2015.

The United States has been helping to fund an anti-ISIL offensive in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in a war in 1967.

The Islamic State has been waging a campaign in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967.

In recent months, Israel has faced a series of deadly attacks by the group.

A Palestinian teenager was killed by an Israeli settler on March 4, while a Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank on March 8.

The attack on the West Side Highway was the deadliest terrorist attack by Israeli troops since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.