KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah and other officials attend the seminar. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah praised all those who participated in the Eagle Resolve (Hasm Al Oqban) military exercise held in Kuwait from March 19 to April 9, 2017. "This is the final phase of this military training, which was led by the Kuwait Armed Forces," he said during the Senior Leaders' Seminar held yesterday at Sheraton Hotel. "Various local institutions participated in this training along with military forces from the GCC, Arab countries and the United States."

Sheikh Mohammed said the training strengthens cooperation between the GCC and other friendly countries. "It also allows exchanging experiences between the participants in order to face any local or regional threat or dealing with crises and disasters. Such training also boosts cooperation between local institutions that deal with crisis management and support security and military operations inside and outside the country," Sheikh Mohammed added. "We should systematically increase our efforts to conduct more joint operations and training, which strengthens the military relationship between friendly countries, in addition to raising the efficiency of their armed forces in all fields, which strengthens stability in the region," he concluded.

Maj Gen Ahmad Al-Amiri, Assistant General Chief of Staff for the Operations and Planning Sector, said this was the fourth phase of the 14th edition of Eagle Resolve. "Three phases were concluded prior to this phase that included training the leaders, followed by field training that took place on land, sea and air," he pointed out. Eagle Resolve has a variety of goals. "It aims to improve coordination and cooperation between all ministries and public institutions on crisis management. It also boosts military cooperation between the GCC armed forces and the United States, especially during regional crises. Furthermore, it plans and executes all kinds of extraordinary military operations, and this training covered all these goals," Amiri said.

Long history

Maj Gen Ralph Groover, Head of Training at the US Central Command, thanked the guests from the GCC for attending the Senior Leaders' Seminar after concluding the Eagle Resolve 2017 exercise. "We are also pleased to see so many representatives from the Kuwaiti military and all other ministries represented here today. I also want to thank Kuwait for its gracious hospitality in hosting this exercise. Many in this room have a long history with the Eagle Resolve exercise over the years. I understand the GCC secretary general led the first event in the region around 2009-10. The benefits of this exercise were identified after the Camp David Summit of May 2015, where the leaders of the GCC, in close discussion with the US president, laid out the idea of a GCC/US exercise to counter regional threats," stressed Groover.

"Focus areas included CT, CIP, McM, IAMD, cyber defense and asymmetric threats. ER 17 was selected to accomplish this idea. The exercise's design included CPX-FTX and an SLS format that exercised joint, multilateral and interagency operations as part of the US/GCC effort," he explained. "The ministries' and civilian organizations' involvement in this exercise truly represented the entirety of the government's response, which is vitally important to the success of any scenario requiring a national or international response to crises. The process of organizing this exercise and working together over the past year plus allowed us to gain a greater understanding of each other, build trust and strengthen our partnerships," noted Groover.

By Nawara Fattahova