{"id":21925,"date":"2026-09-19T19:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/greek-egyptian-troops-close-medusa-15-drills-on-crete-beach-as-tourists-look-on-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T19:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:04:31","slug":"greek-egyptian-troops-close-medusa-15-drills-on-crete-beach-as-tourists-look-on-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/19\/greek-egyptian-troops-close-medusa-15-drills-on-crete-beach-as-tourists-look-on-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Greek, Egyptian troops close Medusa 15 drills on Crete beach as tourists look on \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Greek and Egyptian service members waded through colored smoke onto a Cretan beach Friday as the multinational Medusa 15 exercise ended in front of tourists sunbathing near Chania.<\/p>\n

The annual drills, led by Greece and Egypt, ran from Sept. 10\u201318 around Crete, the Myrtoan Sea and waters south of Karpathos. France, Italy and Cyprus took part. Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Mozambique sent observers.<\/p>\n

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Friday\u2019s Distinguished Visitors Day at Maleme featured a combined amphibious and airborne assault: free-fall jumps with participating nations\u2019 flags, airborne infiltration, JTAC-directed air support, naval and anti-submarine operations, and helicopter fast-rope descents. Jets and helicopters flew overhead while Greek military police kept bathers back.<\/p>\n

Egypt\u2019s helicopter carrier ENS Gamal Abdel Nasser served as a floating command post. Forces used frigates, missile boats, submarines, landing craft, fighters and special-operations teams. This year\u2019s scenarios stressed drones and counter-drone systems, including Greece\u2019s Kentavros C-UAS and FPV unmanned aircraft, reflecting lessons from recent wars.<\/p>\n

Medusa began in 2015 as a Greece-Egypt exercise and now rotates hosts. Officials said the aim is interoperability. Greek sources also pointed to participants\u2019 ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and to a Greece-Cyprus-Egypt meeting in El Alamein days earlier.<\/p>\n

Watching from the Hellenic Navy frigate Psara were Gen. Dimitrios Houpis of Greece, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Fathy Ibrahim Khalifa of Egypt, Lt. Gen. Emmanouil Theodorou of Cyprus and French Rear Adm. Mackara Ouk.<\/p>\n