Patrons of the Mylos café in Kolymbari harbour last Friday morning looked up from their cappuccinos and espressos to see a number of warships and smaller craft steaming to and fro in the distance. Earlier, parachute drops had been seen, and troops embarking on rubber boats in the harbour.

While conversations ranged from the identity of the ships to the enormous amounts of fuel being burned in such apparently aimless activities, what they were in fact witnessing was the culmination of the multinational exercise Medusa 13 which had begun the previous weekend and was to end the following day, Saturday 19th October. ERTNews reported on the event in its Sunday news bulletin as follows:

Medusa 13 exercise: final scenario completed at Maleme, Chania
The final scenario of the international exercise Medusa 13 was conducted with precision deployments on the historic beach of Maleme in Chania, with the participation of Greek, French, Cypriot, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian military units. Amphibious units of commandos, marines and paratroopers with military aircraft, helicopters, submarines, corvettes, patrol boats and RIBs, UAVs, the Egyptian helicopter carrier Sadat and the frigate Koundouriotis, under the direction of the National Defence General Staff (GEETHA) and the Special Operations Directorate, enacted multiple scenarios of aerial anti-submarine and electronic warfare, with commando operations, simulated bombings and reoccupation of ground from hostile forces, which were repelled and neutralised. The Chiefs of General Staff of Greece and Egypt together visited the frigate Koundouriotis and the Mistral class Sadat in order to follow part of the exercise.

The international forces carried out manoeuvres of:
– aerial penetration of hostile territory with parachute landings from Chinook helicopters, reconnaissance and infantry invasion of beaches, under the protection of aircraft and attack helicopters;
– air manoeuvres and rapid deployment of special forces from ship to shore and between ships; and finally
– landing of a third wave on the beach and deployment of ground units close to Maleme.

Speaking at Maleme airfield, GEETHA’s press officer Spyros Aslanis said that the aim of the exercise was to strengthen the cooperation and interoperability of the Armed Forces of the participating countries as well as the conducting of operational training at an inter-service level. And in an associated statement the Ministry of Defence said: “The joint military presence of Greece, France, Egypt, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia in the Medusa 13 exercise conveys a clear message of determination for the preservation of peace, regional stability and the support of International Law and the Law of the Sea.”

(Official GEETHA footage of the exercise can be seen on YouTube, here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=macI-zStyEM&t=112s&pp=2AFwkAIB)

The foreign visitors
Also on Friday the Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Ahmed Fathi Ibrahim Khalifa, was received by the Head of General Staff General Dimitrios Houpis at the Ministry of Defence in Athens. He then had a meeting with the Defence minister Nikos Dendias and laid a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Syntagma Square before returning to the exercise.

The Medusa exercise, which began on 12th October, has been taking place since 2015, and in addition to the participating nations there were observers from the United Arab Emirates, India, Jordan, Italy, Bahrein, Morocco, Mozambique and Rwanda.

On Saturday 19th October there was a Distinguished Visitors Day conducted in the Maleme area, which included free fall parachute jumps and a number of technical demonstrations. The observers, who followed events from the frigate Koundouriotis, included:
– Head of General Staff, General Dimitrios Houpis;
– Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Ahmed Fathi Ibrahim Khalifa;
– Director of the French Naval Forces for the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, Vice Admiral Christophe Lucas;
– Head of the National Guard General Staff, Lieutenant General Georgios Tsitsikostas;
– Ambassador for Egypt in Greece, Omar Amer Youssef;
– Heads of General Staff for the Army, Georgios Kostidis; the Navy, Vice Admiral Dimitrios-Eleftherios Kataras; and the Air Force, Air Marshal Demosthenes Grigoriadis;
– Commander of the Fleet, Polychronis Koulouris, and the head of the Special Operations Directorate, Lieutenant General Prokopios Mavraganis;
– High ranking officers of the the Armed Forces of the participating nations and Defence Attachés.