Egyptian army intensifies military exercises

Cairo, Dec 25 : The Egyptian Armed Forces have recently intensified military exercises and drills as a “deterrent message” to some regional powers, and an assurance of their readiness against any threats, according to political and defence experts.
“The four strategic directions of Egypt, the Mediterranean at north, Sinai at east, Libya at west and the headwaters of the Nile at south, made the joint exercises very important now,” Samir Farag, an Egyptian military expert, told Xinhua news agency on Thursday.
“The conflicts over the natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean need a military force to maintain the sea wealth,” Farag, also former manager of the Defence Ministry’s moral department, added.
From November until now, the army has conducted nine joint drills according to official statistics posted by the Armed Forces on its Facebook page.
Those training activities included seven in the Egyptian regional water with the participation of forces from France, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, the UK, Jordan and Sudan.
Some countries like Greece, France, the UAE and Bahrain have participated in more than one drill, while the US, Italy and Germany have taken part as observers.