NATO prepares biggest exercise in decade to counter IS

The Western military bloc temporarily took its eyes off Russia to conduct its largest military exercise in 10 years, with the target being the terrorist organization IS.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will conduct its largest military exercise in more than 10 years, starting in October 2015, focusing on combating the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS).

NATO General Domrose (photo: Reuters)

NATO forces will be deployed across the Mediterranean and Russia will be invited to observe the event, the military bloc's commanders said.

NATO commanders describe the Commonwealth Trident Juncture-2015 exercise as one of NATO’s most challenging training events. It will include scenarios of man-made threats on land, sea and air.

Reuters quoted the commander of NATO's command in Brunssum, the Netherlands, General Hans-Lothar Domrose, as saying: "We cannot choose between the eastern and southern threats, we must train to deal with both threats."

General Hans-Lothar Domrose is the organizer of this exercise.

Some 36,000 people from more than 30 countries (including non-NATO countries such as Sweden and Austria) will take part in the large-scale exercise, which is scheduled to take place in Italy, Spain, Portugal and in the Mediterranean from October 3 to November 6.

“Distance is a new factor,” said General Domrose. “We will operate over a large area. We will focus on speed, and on multiple threats at the same time.”

NATO is also developing a rapid reaction force of several thousand troops that could be deployed quickly to any hot spot.

The last time NATO held a military exercise of similar scale was in 2002. At that time, 15 NATO member states, along with 12 other partner countries, participated in the exercise in Norway and Poland.

This is the first time NATO has taken its eyes off Russia and focused on the serious terrorist threat posed by the Islamic State (IS) in the south.

“We are inviting international observers. We are not keeping anything secret. The only secret is what decisions I make, everything else is transparent. The Russian Federation and other interested countries will be invited,” General Domrose said.

The general argued that the growing threat from IS in Iraq and Syria is forcing NATO to turn its attention away from the east and face the growing instability created by the terrorist group.

According to Domrose, IS challenges geographical boundaries as it uses social media as a propaganda vehicle to incite terrorist attacks globally.

According to Vov.vn