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Joint military counter-terror training operation between Egypt and US

September 7, 2018 at 2:06 am

The Egyptian army announced joint military training exercises with the United States on Thursday, to combat terrorism and reducing the threat of improvised explosive devices (IED), two days before the launch of “Operation Bright Star.”

A military spokesman, Col. Tamer Al-Rifai, stated that “training was conducted to exchange expertise in counter-terrorism between elements of the American Special Forces (SOFD-A) and Egyptian Thunderbolt Forces in order to consolidate operational concepts, training on the joint teamwork and rehabilitate the forces to implement future planned stages.”

He explained that the training “included many theoretical and practical lectures in the field of counterterrorism, methods of handling IED, training in air and sea freight and combat diving, in addition to medical insurance, the use of nonstandard live ammunition from various weapons as well as training to infiltrate a terrorist outpost.”

The training comes two days before the launch of “Operation Bright Star 2018” between the two countries, in a military base in northwest Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, in the north of the country. The military operation will take place between eight and 20 September.

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The operation will include elements of the ground forces, sea and air troops along with the special forces of Egypt, US, Greece, Jordan, Britain, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Italy and France.”

Lebanon, Rwanda, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Djibouti, Mali, South Africa, Niger, Senegal and Canada will participate in the operation as observers.

“Operation Bright Star” began in 1981, and was held for the last time in Egypt in 2009, before resuming the training last year, with the aim of strengthening strategic and security relations between Egypt and the US.

Egypt-United States relations is described as tight and strategic, especially at the military level. Washington provides Egypt with about $ 1.5 billion in annual aid, including $ 1.3 billion in military funds since Egypt signed the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in 1979.