Tunisia, US to hold several-day joint military drills

Tunisian and US air powers will hold joint military drills May 21-27 in view of sharing military expertise and develop operations military abilities, the Tunisian Defense Ministry announced Wednesday.

The drills are in line with the cooperation program established by the two sides in the area of operational training with a number of the friendly countries.

In October last year both countries signed a ten-year military cooperation as Secretary of Defense Mark Esper visited the North African during his first leg of Maghreb tour.

The long-term strategic commitment consolidates and encourages military cooperation based primarily on the provision of anti-terrorist equipment and military training.

The US will also train Tunisian army forces on the maintenance of US military hardware and equipment sold or donated to Tunisia.

The US is a strategic partner for Tunisian in many areas. It has since 2011, invested more than $1 billion in Tunisia’s intelligence services.

Tunisia has witnessed a surge in threats since 2011 with terrorist incursions from Algeria and Libya. Several terror attacks, claimed by the Islamic state group (ISIS) in March and June 2015, killed more than 70 people mostly foreign tourists.