Military Spox: Bright Star 2023 showed high combat skills, good coordination and understanding among troops

By Sarah Saad

Egypt’s Military Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafiz asserted that the joint military exercise “Bright Star 2023” is considered one of the most important military drills the Armed Forces General Command is keen to carry out to enhance military ties between Egypt and a number of sisterly and friendly countries for the purpose of exchanging expertise.

In statements on Thursday, the spokesman said the joint Egyptian-US exercises is the largest multinational military exercise in the Middle East region as it is characterized with high combat skills, good training, planning, management, in addition to a variety of training techniques and skills that are important for the participating troops.

He asserted that the exercise showed the high combat capabilities, high coordination and good understanding among the troops in implementing collective missions with high accuracy, adding that the trainings reflected the outstanding performance of the Egyptian Armed Forces and their potentials in carrying out the assigned missions.

The spokesman also said that Defense Minister Mohamed Zaki conveyed the greetings of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to participating troops and welcomed them on the Egyptian territories.

Meanwhile, the defense minister praised the elite level of the troops and their ability to manage the missions with high professionalism. He also commended the excellent level and technical skills of all participating troops.

The spokesman announced the conclusion of the military exercise for this year with the participation of a total of 34 states and more than 8,000 fighters.

The military exercise, held at Mohamed Naguib Military Base on August 31 till September 14, included 19 countries, observers from 15 other countries in addition to the participation of civil police and a number of legal experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Bright Star exercises are held in Egypt on a regular basis. The first was held in 1980.

Among the countries that are participating in the exercise taking place on Egypt’s North Coast and other naval bases and air bases across the country are Saudi Arabia, Greece, UAE, Oman, Jordan, UK, Greece, Cyprus, Pakistan, and India.