The Israeli Air Force launched a large-scale aerial exercise last Sunday in Greece, practising long-range operations and missions over unfamiliar terrain. The exercise simulated warfare in the Gaza Strip as well as on Israel’s northern border, the army said on Monday. A total of forty planes of Israel’s Armed Forces participated in the large-scale aerial exercise in Greece’s skies, meant to simulate a war on multiple fronts, including a significant bombing campaign against targets in the Gaza Strip.
A total of forty Israeli planes participated in the large-scale aerial exercise in Greece’s skies, meant to simulate a war on multiple fronts, including a significant bombing campaign against targets in the Gaza Strip.
As part of the exercise, 40 fighter jets, refueling planes and transport planes traveled to Greece, the military said.
“In the exercise, we traveled far from home to unfamiliar terrain in order to carry out a rigidly defined and precise mission, under very challenging conditions,” said the commander of the air force’s 105th Air Squadron, which operates F-16 fighter jets.
“This capability that we have, to take all of our vehicles and travel far in order to carry out a missions and then return, is something that we… are prepared to use any time it’s needed,” he said.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said the purpose of the exercise was to practice long-range missions in which dozens of aircraft take part.
“The drill took place entirely in the air, without landings, and included two sorties in daylight,” the military said.
The IDF said a central aspect of the exercise was to test the air force’s ability to operate in multiple fronts at the same time. In total, hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, transport planes, and other aircraft took part in the multi-day exercise, which also included night missions.
The aerial drill simulated warfare in the Gaza Strip, as well as on the northern front — in Lebanon and Syria — the army said.
As part of the exercise, the air force simulated a large-scale conflict in the Gaza Strip, where tensions were ramping up after a massive flareup the week before.
“As part of the southern portion of the exercise, dozens of fighter jets simulated strikes on hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip in a short period of time,” the military said in a statement.
Though it said the timing of the exercise was not tied to the recent unrest in the Palestinian enclave, the army’s statement about the drill could be seen as a tacit threat to the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group.
The exercise also included actual sorties over the Gaza Strip, with Israeli aircraft filming the territory.
The IDF added that the air force also practiced giving support to troops in the case of a ground invasion of Gaza.
Ps I thought Greeks were friends of Palestinians…
What a disgrace…
ktg, we were & still are friends of Palestine in our hearts, but no longer formally. Now we are active enemies of Palestinians by default. This took place after the humiliation of the SYRIZA government in July 2015, when the USA imposed a SOFA agreement with Israel on the Greece in September 2015, ending 70 years of solidarity and being a trusted partner in the ME. Greece is now the only country in the world apart from the USA that has a Status of Armed Forces Agreement [SOFA] with Israel.
Therefore, Israel has an air force base at Kastelli, Crete. This is not reciprocal: Greece does NOT have bases in Israel. SOFA is not 2-way it seems.
Now Greece, Cyprus and Israel have merged their electrical grids under the ELIA agreement. This means that Israel now controls our national electrical infrastructures. This would have made no sense before given the vast distances, between the 3 countries, but Israel’s Talpiot programme has made Israel a world leader in cyber technology, and thus Israel not only has the back door into the world’s infrastructure, it also controls global electronic banking etc. This is touted and sold as a security measure. Netanyahu explained all this in the last AIPAC meeting.
As a SOFA beneficiary [not partner] we can be very, very proud that Greece donates its air space to give Israel the opportunity to practise murdering even more Palestinians and also the much needed defensive warfare against its neighbours. After all, we are NATO, the world’s most aggressive invasion, destruction and murder machine and Israel is not only partnered with NATO but is providing security and air and soon naval dominance over the entire east Mediterranean leading to Suez. We can only benefit.