Military planes will purr in the skies of Amman. Jordan announced this Sunday, May 12, the start of major military maneuvers with the participation of land, naval and air forces. In total, thirty-three countries responded – ten Arab states and twenty-two foreign countries in addition to Jordan. Among them, the United States, France and the United Kingdom. The name of the operation: “Eager Lion”, a two-week multinational military exercise held annually in the country since 2011.
Germany, Italy, Spain and Canada will also participate in this international event which ends on May 23, said Colonel Moustapha al-Hayari, a spokesperson for the Jordanian army. The latter has not yet specified the number of military participants, only that it was the “largest exercise” since the first edition.
Moustapha al-Hayari insisted that the maneuvers had “no connection” with the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The participating forces will train in particular to “deal with threats from terrorist organizations” and “the proliferation of drones […] and missiles of different ranges”, he added. The spokesperson stressed that “Eager Lion” was intended to help combat “terrorist organizations”, and to respond to “the proliferation of drones and weapons biological, chemical and nuclear weapons of mass destruction” as well as major disasters.
“To strengthen the ties”
Among the countries that will take part in the maneuvers are also: Poland, Norway, Romania, Japan, Australia, as well as several Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Morocco and Lebanon. This military exercise also represents an opportunity for the United States to strengthen its ties with its partners in the Middle East. “As we face increasing aggressive actions from malicious forces around the world, these partnerships allow us to jointly confront new and persistent threats,” detailed an American press release in 2022. Note that the The United States has forces in the Middle East as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Jordan, Israel’s neighboring country with which it has been linked by a peace treaty since 1994, remains a key partner of Washington. Last February, American President Joe Biden received King Abdullah II of Jordan, a fervent supporter of an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, at the White House.
Organized by the US Department of Defense, the exercise revolves around troop deployment, chemical warfare, border security, command and control, cyber defense and battlespace management. The previous “Eager Lion” exercise, in September 2022, included some 2,200 Jordanian troops, 1,700 U.S. troops and a total of 400 others from 27 other countries.
In July 2023, Brigadier General Hassan Khaldi, Director of Military Training, said in anticipation of this military exercise: “This is an extraordinary opportunity for all of us to strengthen ties, exchange knowledge and expertise between our countries’ armed forces, and to remain united in our commitment to supporting regional and international security and response capacity.”