IDF Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan

IDF Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan. (Gefen Reznik/Israel Army Spokesperson)

Israel is providing Jordan and Egypt with military intelligence and is assisting them in their fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, a senior Israeli military officer said on Wednesday.

“Egypt fights the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula. Jordan is terrified by the presence of the Islamic State in Jordan’s cities and towns. And we try to work with them in order to contribute something to their security,” IDF Maj.-Gen. Yair Golan, deputy commander of the IDF, told reporters from Israel’s Foreign Press Association on Wednesday, Israel Radio reported.

Golan added that he wouldn’t describe cooperating with Egypt and Jordan “as some sort of reconciliation between the people [of the three countries]. But it is a good starting point and I’m quite optimistic concerning that.”

However, the IDF General IDF said that security cooperation with Egypt and Jordan is closer than ever before.

He said that leaders in the region feel that they need to put the hostilities of the past aside, and to concentrate instead on the mutual interests and cooperation with Israel in light of the Jihadist threat.

Intelligence information, he said, is “the most important element in the whole system” of fighting off insurgency.

Golan said that Jordan and Egypt remain stable despite the insurgent threat.

Jordan has been nervous about its northern border with Syria, and fears ISIS will spill over into the kingdom.

Egypt has been contending with an ISIS insurgency in the Sinai over the past few years, and hundreds of Egyptian security personnel have been killed in violent clashes with ISIS-affiliated terrorists.

By: United with Israel Staff
JNS.org contributed to this report.