The United States and Israel are waging their first truly combined military operation since World War II - and the scale of integration has no precedent in the modern history of either country. Operations Epic Fury and Rising Lion represent a fully fused campaign in which Washington and Jerusalem divide targets, share the most sensitive intelligence, and put their soldiers' lives equally at risk.
As "Hvylya" reports, citing a Foreign Affairs analysis by Dana Stroul, a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, the partnership crosses a threshold that decades of cooperation never reached. The United States has not fought alongside any ally in a fully combined manner - dividing targets and operating within a shared construct - since the Second World War.
The two militaries are demonstrating joint air defense and strike frameworks, continuous intelligence fusion, and comprehensive deconfliction in real time. Israel eliminated Iranian leadership while the United States focused on missile-storage facilities and the Iranian navy. With air supremacy achieved over Iran, both forces jointly escalated strikes against all elements of Iran's missile program.
Yet behind this seamless battlefield coordination lies a widening political rift. A late February Gallup survey found that American sympathy for Israel dropped from 60 percent in 2020 to just 36 percent - the lowest figure in 25 years. A CNN poll released this week showed 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the campaign entirely.
Stroul warns that the military collaboration "cannot last alongside such divergent views of the conflict among the U.S. and Israeli populations." Israelis hear air raid sirens daily and overwhelmingly back the operation. Americans question whether the war is necessary at all. If political leaders on both sides fail to address this gap, the partnership itself becomes a casualty.
Also read: The Escalation Paradox: Why a US Climbdown Becomes Less Likely After Every Iranian Strike