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NATO kicks off largest military exercise since 2002

Military planes fly in formation during a NATO military exercise at the Birgi NATO Airbase in Trapani, Italy, October 19, 2015. (Reuters photo)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its allies have kicked off their biggest military drills in over a decade in the central Mediterranean.

Dubbed Trident Juncture, the exercises involve some 36,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen from more than 30 countries testing what the military alliance regards its ability to respond to new security threats.

The opening ceremony of the drills was held on Monday in the presence of NATO's military and political leaders at an airbase in the Sicilian city of Trapani, Italy.

The city is the operational center for the drills whose live part will begin on Wednesday and run for several weeks, extending into Spain, Portugal and adjacent waters.

NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow told the ceremony that the exercises would show that the military alliance is capable of dealing with “everything from conventional military engagements to more subtle hybrid warfare techniques and propaganda."

Describing the geopolitical situation far more unstable than the Cold War era, he pointed to Crimea’s 2014 decision to rejoin Russia, the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine and Moscow’s airstrikes against militants in Syria as well as the spread of terrorists groups into Libya and Syria.

"In this new world, NATO's allies and partners must be able to move quickly and act decisively," he said.

Meanwhile, NATO's top commander General Philip Breedlove said the exercises would send “a very clear message to any potential aggressor," adding, "Any attempt to violate the sovereignty of one NATO nation will result in the decisive military engagement of all NATO nations.”

A F16 jet fighter, foreground, is parked on the tarmac during the opening ceremony of NATO Trident Juncture exercise 2015, in Trapani, Italy, Monday, Oct. 19, 2015. (AP photo)

 

The exercises are set to examine the efficiency of a 5,000-strong "spearhead" force containing air, maritime and special operations components that can deploy in less than a week.

The drills imagine an attack by a large country on a small alliance member, creating a crisis and threatening energy supplies and navigational freedom with risks of terrorism and cyberattacks.

The war games come as NATO’s escalating military exercises in Europe have been described as the alliance’s response to the persisting crisis in Ukraine over what Kiev’s Western backers refer to as Russian involvement in the conflict.

Moscow, however, has strongly denied playing any role in the Ukrainian situation.

A military plane lands during a NATO military exercise at the Birgi NATO Airbase in Trapani, Italy October 19, 2015. (Reuters photo)

 

The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk – known collectively as the Donbass – have witnessed deadly clashes since April last year, when Kiev decided to silence pro-Russia protests there.

Moscow has also started its air campaign against Daesh Takfiri militants and other terrorists in Syria since last month, based on a request by the Syrian government. 


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