Jordan, US hold war games in desert areas
Iran Press TV
Wed Jun 19, 2013 10:6PM GMT
Military forces from the United States and Jordan have held war games in desert areas near the Syrian border with the Persian Gulf country.
The two countries will wrap up twelve days of the military exercise on Thursday.
The drill, called Eager Lion, is a multi-national exercise designed to focus on facing irregular warfare and national security threats.
About 8,000 forces from 19 countries are taking part in the exercise.
Washington says all its military personnel would leave the country at the end of the training program.
On June 9, the US launched the multinational military drill involving Patriot missiles and fighter jets in Jordan despite condemnation from Russia.
The military drills in Syria’s southern neighbor is taking place several months after NATO dispatched six Patriot batteries to Turkey, the northern neighbor of the crisis-hit Syria.
Jordan is one of the Arab nations that have supported the Syrian opposition groups.
On June 4, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement, “We have more than once stated our opinion on this -- foreign weapons are being pumped into an explosive region.”
“This is happening very close to Syria, where for more than two years the flames are burning of a devastating conflict…,” the statement added.
The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people, including large numbers of soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
Damascus says the West and its regional allies, such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants.
NT/AS
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