Cypriot national guardsmen in Israel for joint training with IDF

The head of the Cypriot military visited Israel on Wednesday to oversee a joint exercise between his soldiers and members of the IDF’s elite Egoz unit, the army says.

Members of the Cyprus National Guard arrived in Israel on Sunday for the two-week exercise, according to the IDF.

“The exercise focuses on urban warfare and tactical planning,” the army says in a statement.

On Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Llias Leontaris, chief of General Staff of the National Guard of the Republic of Cyprus, visited the Cypriot and Israeli troops at the army’s Tzeelim training base, which houses a world-renowned urban combat center that is meant to simulate an Arab town.

Over the course of the two-week exercise, the Cypriot and Israeli soldiers will travel to other IDF training facilities as well, the army says.

— Judah Ari Gross