# Israel's Chief of Staff Sat With Eight Arab Army Chiefs at a Ski Resort in Germany > Eyal Zamir met military leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and six other Arab states alongside US CENTCOM's Brad Cooper, a gathering Israel has neither confirmed nor discussed. - Source: Israel Today - Canonical URL: https://israeltoday.news/article/zamir-arab-army-chiefs-germany-iran-meeting - Author: Amir Doron - Section: Security - Published: 2026-09-16T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-16T11:00:00.000Z - Tags: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar --- IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir met privately with the military chiefs of eight Arab nations, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Egypt among them, at a ski resort in Germany last week, alongside US CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper. It was reportedly the first such gathering since Israel and the United States launched their joint campaign against Iran in February 2026. Cooper told the group the US military would not withdraw its forces from the region despite Iranian attacks on American bases, and the briefing covered IDF operations across multiple fronts, US plans to expand maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and potential Israeli assistance to Saudi Arabia against the Houthi threat near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. CENTCOM confirmed hosting senior military leaders from eight nations and said they discussed opportunities for enhancing security cooperation in the Middle East, without naming Israel specifically. The setting matters as much as the agenda. Israel has no formal diplomatic relations with several of the countries at the table, Saudi Arabia and Qatar among them, and Qatar in particular has been called an enemy state by Israeli politicians in the recent past. A shared table on Iran and shipping security is happening well ahead of, and separately from, any formal relationship between the governments involved. The IDF declined to comment on the meeting when asked. A gathering that neither side wants to describe in public, run through a neutral venue in Germany rather than in any of the capitals involved, is itself a description of where this cooperation currently stands: real enough to convene eight army chiefs around Iran, not yet real enough for anyone to say so on the record. --- Originally published by Israel Today. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://israeltoday.news/article/zamir-arab-army-chiefs-germany-iran-meeting.