Tourists on Crete witness multinational military exercise

Tourists on the Greek island of Crete received an unexpected front-row view of a major multinational military exercise on Friday, as the annual Medusa drill concluded along a popular coastline near Chania. The exercise, led by Greece and Egypt, featured simulated combat operations including drone attacks, fastboat landings, and beach assaults by marines and special forces, with jets and helicopters operating overhead. Greek military police established a cordon during the hour-long drills to keep beachgoers at a safe distance as service members moved through colored smoke onto the shore. The exercise, which began on September 10, also involved France, Italy, and Cyprus, reflecting a broader trend of expanding military cooperation among Mediterranean nations. Vacationers staying at nearby hotels described the scene as both surprising and impressive. Louise Carr, from York in northern England, said she arrived for a holiday late Thursday and was taken aback by the scale of the operation. "I just saw that it was some kind of military exercise, but I must admit I didn't expect it to be the scale that it's been," Carr said. "We were just like wow.