The Israeli-U.S. Juniper Oak joint military exercise will conclude today as the U.S. reaffirms support for Israel’s defense amid Ukraine – Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO.

The Juniper Oak 23.3 joint military exercise between the U.S. and Israel concludes today in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Juniper Oak, the largest joint exercise between the two country’s since start of the Russia-Ukraine war, aims to increase force interoperability and reaffirm America’s commitment to Israel’s defense.

The U.S. continues to donate substantial quantities of arms to Ukraine, including a transfer last Wednesday of 300,000 artillery shells from a joint munitions stockpile in Israel. The donations have caused the US to cut back or delay billions of dollars’ worth of arms deliveries to its non-European allies. In response, the US has sought to reassure allies in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region by continuing to hold large-scale joint military exercises with them.

The exercise will likely be received positively by Israel and other middle eastern allies like Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and will help preserve U.S. military influence in the region in the coming year. Delays in arms donations will likely continue through 2023 as U.S. arms sales and donations outstrip the country’s current arms production capacity, although ongoing U.S. military engagement will likely offset the reputational damage. The U.S. will likely be able to reduce or eliminate the backlog in the medium term as arms production ramps up and as the Russia-Ukraine war winds down.