Friends of 'Cyprus' on exercise off Alexandria. A Turkish frigate invites itself to the maneuver

(B2) Navies from five countries are on exercise off Alexandria. Objective: to improve their ability to intervene. A thinly disguised message to Ankara

Objective: ensure the safety of the area

This predominantly maritime exercise – which is celebrating its tenth edition and has just ended this Sunday (December 6) – this time brought together, in addition to the three usual participants (Egypt, Cyprus and Greece), France and the United Arab Emirates ( 1). A group that can be called the 'friends of Cyprus'. With three objectives: to contribute to regional security, to strengthen military cooperation and interoperability, to establish operational synergies. The adversary is not designated, but it is indeed Turkey which worries the five countries.

An attempt to force the passage

A Turkish frigate, Kemal Reys, who came to observe the exercise a little too much, was also ordered to leave the premises. According to greek media et Cypriots, the Turkish ship attempted to enter the waters where the Medusa 10 maneuver was taking place. It was duly warned to leave the area, but at first refused to comply. It was only after the intervention of an Egyptian frigate that he left the area.

NB: The name of the Kemal Reys is not completely unknown. The Turkish frigate had already had, in August, a slight incident with 'hull rubbing' with a Greek frigate on Limnos, while accompanying the Turkish seismic research vessel Fasting Reis in its drilling activities.

A dozen ships and submarines

Participated in the exercise, Greek side, the submarine Katsonis, frigates Limnos et Themistokles and the amphibious vessel Chios and, on the Egyptian side, the amphibious helicopter carrier Anwar Sadat (1) , the frigate Alexandria and corvettes Ali Gad, El Fateh, Mahmoud Fahmy, and the S-41 submarine, with the Cypriot corvette Ioannides for Cyprus and the corvette Baynunah for the United Arab Emirates. On the side of the 'Royale', it is the frigate Aconite, guard in the eastern Mediterranean, which represented the French flag.

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

1. Originally known as Sevastopol, this BPC, projection and command building, Mistral class was intended for the Russian navy, before being the subject of a change of orientation of France, under the yoke of events (the Russian intervention in Ukraine ) and to be resold to Egypt with her 'sister-ship', the Vladivostok became the Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Egyptian Navy. Read : No. 74. The broken contract of the Russian Mistral BPCs. A daring but failed geopolitical gamble