Unease In Israel As US Depletes Reserve Stockpiles To Fuel Ukraine War

Via The Cradle,

Officials in Israel have raised concerns about the dwindling stockpile of US munitions stored in the country, as in recent months, Washington has been quietly shipping the armament via the Port of Ashdod to Ukraine.

“These are Israel’s reserve stockpiles for times of war … The move has had a bigger implication in light of the threats on Israel in multiple theaters,” an unnamed former cabinet minister told Israel Hayom.

“US equipment stored in Israel was handed over to the US armed forces, in accordance with an American request,” the Israeli army said in response to a query by the news outlet.

A US official also confirmed that “it is still not clear when the reserves will be restocked,” as the US war machine has pivoted from fueling conflict in West Asia to new fronts in Ukraine and Taiwan.

While Kiev prepares for a critical spring offensive against the Russian army, western states have been scrambling to supply the European nation with enough arsenal to turn back the tide of war, as Ukrainian troops reportedly blow through 90,000 artillery shells per month – twice the rate produced by the US and Europe combined.

Reports of the US Army tapping into its reserve stockpiles in Israel first surfaced in January.

“[The Pentagon has drawn from] a vast but little-known stockpile of American ammunition in Israel to help meet Ukraine’s dire need for artillery shells,” the New York Times revealed on 17 January.

Tel Aviv reportedly agreed to allow the shipments on the condition that the Pentagon replenishes the stockpile, with Washington pledging earlier this year to “immediately ship ammunition in a severe emergency.”

According to Israel Hayom, the “implicit understanding” between Tel Aviv and Washington has been that munitions stored in US military storage facilities “would be earmarked for Israel in times of emergency if the Jewish state faces a major attack along the scale as the 1973 Yom Kippur War.”

Unease in the apartheid state has also spiked due to President Joe Biden’s iciness towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the ongoing rapprochement between Iran and several Arab states under the auspices of China.