Forces assigned to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Israel and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) began conducting a multilateral maritime security operations exercise in the Red Sea, Nov. 10, NAVCENT reports.

The five-day exercise includes at-sea training aboard amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland (LPD 27) focused on visit, board, search and seizure tactics. The U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses nearly 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab-al-Mandeb.