Greece, Egypt and Cyprus to hold joint exercise south of Crete

A joint land and air exercise between Greece and Egypt, with the participation of Cypriot forces, is set to begin on Sunday in an area stretching from the island of Crete to the coast of the North African country.

Greece will take part in the exercise, dubbed Medusa 6, with two frigates, a submarine, a C-130 plane, eight F-16 jets, one AWACS, one Chinook helicopter and two Apaches.

Greece, Israel and Cyprus, meanwhile, have pledged to forge deeper military ties to deal with common threats and boost security in the volatile Eastern Mediterranean region.

In a meeting in Nicosia on Friday, defense ministers Panos Kammenos of Greece, Avigdor Lieberman of Israel and Savvas Angelides of Cyprus agreed on the need to expand their scope of cooperation in cybersecurity, joint military drills and search and rescue operations. This was the first trilateral conference attended by Cypriot, Greek and Israeli defense companies.