Tourists Watch Greek-Egyptian Medusa Drills on Crete as Alliances Widen

Holidaymakers on the Greek island of Crete found themselves with an unexpected vantage point on Friday as a multinational military exercise played out along the shoreline near the port city of Chania.

The annual Medusa drills, led by Greece and Egypt, concluded with an hour-long display on a stretch of beach at Maleme. The exercise featured drone strikes, fast-boat landings by marines and special forces, and the use of simulated fire, while jets and helicopters passed overhead.

France, Italy and Cyprus took part in the manoeuvres, which began on September 10. Observers from Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Mozambique also attended. Egypt deployed the helicopter carrier Gamal Abdel Nasser for the event.

Greek military police formed a cordon during the drills to keep swimmers and sunbathers at a safe distance as service members moved through coloured smoke onto the sand.

Some visitors were taken aback by the scale of the operation. Louise Carr, who arrived from York in northern England for a holiday late on Thursday, said she had not anticipated the intensity of what unfolded. She described the spectacle as impressive, adding that people would pay large sums to witness something similar.

Michal Sitko, a tourist from Poland, said he felt fortunate to have stumbled upon the exercise, noting it was the first time in his life he had seen anything like it.

The drills come as countries around the Mediterranean pursue closer military ties, driven by wars, economic shocks and uncertainty over the United States' role in the region. Greece signed a 3 billion euro (about $3.5 billion) agreement with Israel in August to build a new air defence system called Achilles Shield. Weeks earlier, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark defence pact of their own.