By Bosphorus News Defense Desk
The MEDUSA 15/2026 multinational military exercise began Sept. 10 south of Crete, bringing together Greece, Egypt and the Republic of Cyprus, with French and Italian participation. The drills include fighter aircraft, warships, drones and special forces.
The exercise is scheduled to continue through Sept. 19. Its first activities are centered southeast of Crete and south of Karpathos. A Hellenic Navy NAVTEX covers an area running south of Karpathos toward waters west of Rhodes.
MEDUSA was held in Egypt last year and has returned to Greece for its 2026 edition. Greek reporting lists the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Mozambique as observers, although a consolidated official participant and observer list has not yet been released.
Greek military sources quoted by Kathimerini described the location as a practical assertion of Greece's sovereignty and sovereign rights. They also pointed to the fact that Greece, Egypt, the Republic of Cyprus, France and Italy are parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The operating area falls within a part of the Eastern Mediterranean where Greek and Turkish maritime claims diverge. Athens links the area to the 2019 Türkiye-Libya maritime delimitation memorandum, which Greece rejects, and to the partial exclusive economic zone agreement Greece and Egypt signed in 2020.
MEDUSA began two days after an informal trilateral meeting in El Alamein, where Egypt, Greece and the Republic of Cyprus renewed their position on maritime delimitation.
Their Sept. 8 declaration said agreements or memoranda of understanding delimiting maritime jurisdiction should comply with international law, including UNCLOS. The declaration did not name Türkiye or the Türkiye-Libya memorandum.
Türkiye is not a party to UNCLOS. Ankara maintains that its 2019 agreement with Libya complies with international law and equitable delimitation principles. Greece says the memorandum has no legal effect.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis used more restrained language after the El Alamein meeting. He said cooperation among Greece, Egypt and the Republic of Cyprus was not directed against any country, while adding that Greece would not accept what he called faits accomplis.
The exercise is part of a military relationship that predates this week's meeting. Greece, Egypt and the Republic of Cyprus have maintained joint action plans covering operational training, special forces cooperation and other military activities, with MEDUSA serving as one of their recurring multinational exercises.
Greece and the Republic of Cyprus are also building separate military cooperation formats with other regional partners. A 2026 Greece-Republic of Cyprus-Jordan Joint Action Plan, signed in Nicosia on Aug. 6, covers joint exercises and training, information exchange, operational experience from aerial firefighting and lessons related to countering unmanned systems. A separate 2026 plan with Israel includes joint operational activities and special forces training.
That network does not amount to a single military bloc. The agreements are separate, involve different partners and missions, and their official texts do not define Türkiye as their target.
Türkiye had not issued a public response to MEDUSA 15 by Friday afternoon. The Turkish Defense Ministry's Sept. 10 weekly briefing did not address the exercise. Neither the government in Tripoli, which signed the 2019 maritime memorandum with Türkiye, nor authorities in eastern Libya had publicly responded to the exercise.
Greek military data separately recorded activity by one Turkish ATR-72 aircraft and four unmanned aerial vehicles in the Aegean on the first day of MEDUSA. Greek authorities reported eight violations of air traffic rules and nine violations of what Greece considers its national airspace, with no engagements. The flights took place in the Aegean rather than the MEDUSA exercise area, and there is no Turkish statement linking them to the drill.
Sources: Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Egyptian Presidency, Kathimerini, RIK, Cyprus Mail, Bosphorus News review and reporting.