Turkey, Israel, US plan massive exercise over Mediterranean

Worldnet Daily
June 16, 2001

FROM DEBKA INTELLIGENCE FILES
3 nations to rehearse
Mideast war
Turkey, Israel, U.S. plan massive exercise over
Mediterranean

© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

One of the biggest air force exercises ever staged in
the region takes place Sunday over southern Turkey
with more than 500 craft from the U.S., Israel and
Turkey participating, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly,
the online intelligence source.

"Anatolian Eagle," will involve fighters, bombers,
surveillance craft, marine vehicles and refueling
planes, as well as combat helicopters and will be the
first joint exercise by the three air forces. It will
last 13 days, ending June 29.

Hundreds of craft will zip round the skies over most
parts of the eastern Mediterranean and Turkey's
frontiers with Syria, Iraq and Iran. Some of the U.S.
craft will make use of carriers cruising in the
Mediterranean and Red Sea, and Israeli air units will
return home periodically to refuel and re-arm at their
bases in Neve David and Hatzor, before rejoining the
exercise.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military experts reveal that
Anatolian Eagle's secret objective is to make tangible
preparations for a Middle East war. The three air
forces will be rehearsing a Turkish-U.S. response,
should Syria, Iraq and Iran – together or singly –
launch a surface missile assault on Turkish and U.S.
military bases inside Turkey, as part of an overall
offensive against Israel.

This offensive might come in the form of a missile
raid or a ground invasion through Jordan or Syria. The
1995 Turkish-Israel military pact provides for Israel
to use Turkish air bases if attacked.

The basic premise underlying the air force exercise is
that in the event of a full-blown Middle East war,
either of those three neighbors of Turkey will send
missiles against military installations in southern
Turkey, primarily the big base at Incerlik, for the
purpose of demolishing any Israeli warplanes that are
on the ground and preventing the Israeli air force
from using Turkish soil as a launch pad for reaching
targets in Syria, north Iraq, northeast Iran, Iraq's
western desert and northeast Iraq.

Based in those regions are the very surface missile
batteries that Iraq and Iran mean to deploy against
Israel in a war.

The joint exercise will also drill fighter planes in
missile-launcher destruction tactics. For the first
time, the Arrow anti-missile missile system will be
tried out in mock battle conditions. DEBKA-Net-Weekly
adds that the first operational version of the Arrow
will be taking part in the exercise and fill two
functions:


Its advanced radar will be required to pick up surface
missile launchings against Turkish targets in time to
direct round-the-clock airborne air units to home in
on the launchers and destroy them before the enemy has
time to conceal them.

The Arrow will also be dispatched to intercept enemy
missiles penetrating Turkish air space and blow them
out of the air.

There are signs that the imminent Anatolian Eagle
exercise is generating some edginess in Baghdad,
Tehran and Damascus. Earlier this week, Syria sent a
military delegation to Ankara to quiz Turkish
officials about the Israel air force role. According
to DEBKA-Net-Weekly sources, the Turks told their
visitors politely but firmly to mind their own
business.