Joint Egyptian military drills with Jordan, UAE, Bahrain are regional gamechanger

Together, these four countries, with support from Saudi Arabia and links to Greece and Cyprus, increasingly look like a bloc of countries that share views and are a kind of alliance.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
NO OTHER area in the world has so many complex conflicts than the Middle East (photo credit: WALLPAPER FLARE)
NO OTHER area in the world has so many complex conflicts than the Middle East
(photo credit: WALLPAPER FLARE)
Joint training taking place in Egypt on November 15-17 with Jordan, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the Egyptian armed forces is a major leap forward for the role these countries play in regional security and stability.
Together, these four countries, with support from Saudi Arabia and links to Greece and Cyprus, increasingly look like a bloc that shares views and is a kind of alliance. Joint military training is key to maintaining that.
According to reports, the training is called Saif al-Arab, “the sword of the Arabs.” Sudan is also participating, and Riyadh is observing, the Saudi Gazette, an English-language daily newspaper, reported. Training takes place at the Mohamed Naguib base in northern Egypt.
Egyptian and Sudanese aircraft conducted a joint air exercise called Nile Eagles 1 at Sudan’s Marwa base near Khartoum, Arab News, an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia, reported.
This is an important drill and will continue until November 26. Considering the security challenges in the region and Sudan’s current transitional government, this training helps Khartoum and Cairo to work more closely.
At the same time, as the special forces and units from the Arab states were practicing in Egypt, Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrived in the UAE to discuss a strategic partnership. Athens has warned about Turkey’s aggressive role in the Mediterranean.
Turkey, an ally of Qatar, is harshly opposed to Egypt and the UAE and has threatened Greece, Cyprus and Israel, including hosting Hamas this year. Israel, Greece and Cyprus signed an EastMed pipeline agreement this year, and the same countries are part of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, along with Egypt and Jordan.
Do the math and what you get is a partnership that involves Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Israel, all countries that have peace with each other, as well as Greece and Cyprus, which are growing closer to Israel. Saudi Arabia is also a key backer of both Bahrain and the UAE, as well as close to Egypt.
Egypt is also growing its influence in other ways. It sent its navy to the Black Sea to conduct a joint drill with Russia. This is an important message. Greece and Egypt have signed a Mediterranean demarcation agreement that also seeks to counter a deal between Turkey and the embattled government in Libya’s Tripoli. Egypt backs the Benghazi-based government of Khalifa Haftar against Tripoli.
The joint training that Egypt is hosting and participating in showcases Cairo’s attempt to increase its armed forces’ operations with friendly states.

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Unsurprisingly, alongside the new defense agreements Greece has entered into with the UAE this week, and their joint concerns about Turkish aggression in the region, the UAE hosted Jordan and Bahrain’s king for a meeting on November 18, the Palestinians are returning envoys to the UAE and Bahrain, and Bahrain’s foreign minister was in Israel on Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also paying a visit to these same countries: Israel, Bahrain and the UAE. This showcases how all these recent movements from Greece to the UAE, and Egypt with its military drills, are linked as part of a broader regional paradigm.


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