The Washington Post has revealed, citing what it described as “leaked classified documents from the U.S. Department of Defense,” that six Arab countries expanded their security and military cooperation with Israel during the recent war on Gaza, despite publicly condemning Israeli operations in the enclave.
According to the full report reviewed by Assahifa, the Washington Post did not specify the names of these countries in the main batch of documents, but parallel classified files point to joint U.S.-Israeli coordination with six Arab states—Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan — in countering what they described as the Iranian threat.
Based on the leaked files, the American Central Command (CENTCOM) reportedly held several meetings and joint exercises with senior military officials from Israel and the six Arab states over the past three years. These sessions, the newspaper said, focused on regional threats, Iran, and underground tunnel warfare.
The documents indicate that this cooperation quietly deepened even as major Arab countries — particularly Qatar—publicly denounced Israel’s military actions in Gaza as “genocide.” The meetings, according to the Post, took place under direct supervision from U.S. military leadership.
The leaked files obtained by the newspaper reveal that these gatherings occurred in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar, with high-ranking officers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE in attendance. The documents also described Kuwait and Oman as “potential partners” who were briefed on the meetings’ content.
The Washington Post reported that this trilateral military cooperation among Arab nations, Israel, and the United States faced a major crisis following the Israeli airstrike on Doha on September 9, but added that coordination remains “a central element in post-ceasefire security arrangements” for Gaza.
Among the notable incidents mentioned in the documents was a May 2024 meeting at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a key U.S. military installation. The documents claim Israeli officers were granted direct access to the base, bypassing civilian entry points to prevent public disclosure of their presence in the Gulf state.
The Washington Post said the leaked materials highlight that countering Iran has been the main driver behind this expanding military collaboration between Israel and the six Arab countries. Some documents referred to Iran and its affiliated militias as “the axis of evil,” featuring maps showing Iranian missile deployments in Gaza and Yemen.
The newspaper also pointed out that the documents, obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), described what CENTCOM calls a “regional security architecture” linking Israel with the six Arab partners.
Additional files reportedly reveal joint exercises held in January at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, where Arab military officers trained on detecting and destroying tunnels, a technique widely used by Hamas against Israeli forces during the Gaza conflict.
The leaked documents also detail information warfare drills aimed at countering Iranian propaganda and promoting what they termed “a regional narrative of partnership for prosperity and cooperation.”
Despite this behind-the-scenes coordination, Arab leaders have continued to issue harsh public criticisms of Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia all described the Gaza campaign as “genocide,” while Qatar’s Emir told the UN that Israel is “a hostile state building a system of apartheid.”
The Washington Post concluded that the authenticity of the leaked documents was verified by cross-checking their details with official Pentagon records and open-source data, including publicly available information about the timing and locations of military exercises.
