Greek and Egyptian air and naval forces are joining forces in the Cretan Sea and Eastern Mediterranean for the international exercise Medusa-15, which also involves France, Italy and Cyprus. The exercise begins Thursday and will run for 10 days, featuring fighter jets, warships, drones and special forces training in scenarios based on modern threats and operational challenges.
According to official sources, the exercise underlines the participants’ commitment to international law, as all five countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The drills will take place southeast of Crete and south of Karpathos, an area of particular sensitivity for Greek national interests, at a time when Ankara is seeking to promote Turkey’s revisionist “Blue Homeland” doctrine.
The sources also highlight the exercise as a sign of close diplomatic and military ties between Athens and Cairo, following Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the Greece-Cyprus-Egypt trilateral summit in El Alamein.
On Wednesday, the Hellenic Navy’s hydrographic service issued a Navtex, or navigation warning, designating an area south and east of Crete, extending south of Karpathos toward western Rhodes. The area is considered strategically important for Greece in light of Ankara’s claims and the Turkish-Libyan memorandum, viewed as illegal and baseless by Athens.
