Jordan plans military exercises with 18 countries

More than 15,000 soldiers from 18 different countries will take part in a joint military exercise in Jordan in the coming weeks, a military official said on Saturday. Jordan's armed forces will host the exercise, "Eager Lion 2013", with troops from "friendly countries", including the United States, taking part, the official Petra news agency cited the official as saying. They will participate in battlefield, logistics and humanitarian exercises alongside troops from Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen he added. The official did not say when the manoeuvres were due to begin but said they would run for two weeks and would follow last year's "successful" operation. Jordan is a major beneficiary of US military and economic aid, with Washington granting $2.4 billion (1.85 billion euros) in the past five years, according to official figures. The war games will be held as Jordan is currently hosting around 500,000 refugees who fled the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Amman has repeatedly called on the community for more support in dealing with the influx.