Israel, Turkey and the US to conduct naval exercises

The Israeli daily Jerusalem Post said in its Sunday's issue, quoting Israeli sources that joint naval exercises between Turkey, Israel and the US will be held next week.

The sources explained the maneuvers will be held on January 17, off the borders of Israel in the Mediterranean and with the Participation of a group of planes. Invitations were extended to Jordan and other countries to take part in these maneuvers as observer.

A statement by the Israeli army said that these maneuvers do not include any military activity.

It was decided before to conduct these maneuvers in December 2000 but they were postponed for reasons, attributed, according to military sources, to minimizing the presence of the 6th American fleets in the East of the Mediterranean region since the attack which targeted the American warship " USS Cool" at the Yemeni port of Aden on October 12.

These joint maneuverings are considered the third among the three countries since 1998.