Egypt and Turkey complete joint naval drills, worrying Israel
Egypt and Turkey have completed joint naval exercises that took place in Turkish territorial waters and lasted several days, raising alarm in Israel according to Asharq Al-Awsat on September 30th.
The drills, which were dubbed operation “Sea of Friendship 2025” represented the first time in 13 years that the two nations performed any form of naval cooperation.
An Egyptian military spokesman stated on September 30th that the purpose of the operation was to “maximise bilateral capabilities and exchange expertise in securing maritime operational theatres against various threats.”
On his official Facebook page, the spokesman posted a statement detailing the nature of the operation. He revealed that it included several workshops designed to unify operational concepts, live-fire drills conducted by special forces, helicopter exchanges on ship decks, at-sea supply operations, and inspections of suspicious vessels.
The post garnered a lot of notice in Israel, which quickly evolved into alarm over the drills, amid a geopolitical climate of rapidly increasing tensions due to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Perhaps the most damning sign of the fragile geopolitical environment is Egypt’s deployment of over 40,000 troops to the Gaza Strip border in Rafah. This occurred in August amid concerns of an Israeli ethnic cleansing campaign and military expansion into the Sinai Peninsula.
Maariv, a Hebrew newspaper labelled the drills as “indicative of a potential shift in regional relations and security cooperation,” adding that Turkey is making an effort to solidify its role as a high calibre Middle East player following the Assad regime’s collapse in Syria.
Major General Hamdi Bakhit, who is an advisor at Egypt’s Command and Staff College, said the drills functioned to “lay the groundwork for future coordination if confrontations arise, given shared concerns over Israeli actions in the region.”
Significant concerns over Israeli military expansionism have been circulating in Egypt and Turkey, particularly since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly articulated his desire to carry out the vision of “Greater Israel.”
Hany Elgamal, a researcher in regional international affairs in Egypt also interpreted the naval cooperation as a reaction to an increasingly bold Israel.
He told TRT World on September 22nd that “it is a warning to Israel and its allies that there are other avenues through which Egypt and its allies in the region can thwart.”
Asharq Al-Awsat, Maghrebi.org, TRT World, Maariv
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