The United States will lead a massive military exercise
involving over 12,000 soldiers and 19 countries, based in Jordan. Fellow participants include Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Britain,
France, Italy, Spain, and Australia.
The exercise, dubbed Eager Lion, will span two weeks.
According to the United States Central Command (CENTCOM),
the purpose of Eager Lion is to strengthen military-to-military relationships
between participating nations through joint approaches, integrating all
instruments of national power to meet current and future complex national
security challenges.
“The message that I want to send through this exercise is
that we have developed the right partners throughout the region and across the
world…insuring that we have the ability to…meet challenges that are coming to
our nations,” said United States Major General Ken Tovo, commander of United
States Special Operations Forces.
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| Major General Tovo addresses reporters in Amman. Photo: France 24 |
Major General Tovo took pains to emphasize no forces would
be deployed to Jordan’s north bordering Syria. “This has nothing to do with Syria. We respect the sovereignty of Syria,”
he explained.
The exercise is expected to draw criticism from Iran, which
is facing intense pressure from Western and Arab capitals to curtail its
nuclear program and perceived regional aspirations.
It is also meant to emphasize continued United States
engagement in the region despite withdrawal from Iraq and United States support
for Jordan. Jordanian officials
are concerned about unrest spilling over its borders from Syria entangling its
own restless Palestinian population.
Publicly, officials from participating countries say the
operation is aimed at no country in particular, but instead against “realistic
threats.”
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