Senior military officials in Greece and Israel are evaluating the creation of a joint rapid reaction force in the Eastern Mediterranean, Ta Nea reported on Tuesday, ahead of a high-level summit scheduled for 22 December in Jerusalem.
General Dimitrios Choupis, Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, recently alluded to “pre-emptive” strategies—measures typically associated with Israeli military doctrine—to counter Turkey’s growing military capabilities.
The strategic partnership, which includes the Republic of Cyprus, aims to provide “Israel with strategic depth” while offering Greece and Cyprus “a bulwark against Turkish interference” in the countries’ energy ambitions, Ta Nea report.
The Cyprus problem hinders the creation of a regional energy corridor primarily because Turkey contests the Republic of Cyprus’s maritime boundaries and asserts that any infrastructure traversing the Eastern Mediterranean must include or be approved by Ankara and the Turkish Cypriot community, often using naval harassment to obstruct seabed surveys and drilling.
Brigade-level joint force
According to Ta Nea, the core of the plan involves the formation of a brigade-level rapid reaction force consisting of 2,500 personnel. Under the current draft, the force would be composed of:
- 1,000 troops from Greece
- 1,000 troops from Israel
- 500 troops from Cyprus
This trilateral force would be supported by dedicated air and sea assets stationed at strategic nodes in Rhodes or Karpathos, Cyprus, and Israel. The aerial component would include one squadron from the Hellenic Air Force and one from the Israeli Air Force.
Protecting the ‘underwater front line’
At sea, the focus is squarely on the protection of energy pipelines and subsea electrical cables, such as the Great Sea Interconnector. Military planners envision a permanent naval presence consisting of a Greek frigate and submarine, alongside one of Israel’s new Sa’ar 6-class corvettes and a submarine.
Israeli analyst Shai Gal told Ta Nea that such a force would fill a “strategic vacuum” in an area vulnerable to sabotage. “The real battlefield has shifted offshore to the infrastructure that powers Europe and the seabed that connects it,” Gal noted. “The seabed, not the surface map, is now the front line.”
Gal pointed to recent unexplained cable disruptions in the Baltic Sea and the Nord Stream sabotage as “wake-up calls” that the Eastern Mediterranean cannot afford to ignore.
The proposed force is designed to establish a unified architecture for detection and deterrence. “Maximalist maps will not rule this sea; shared awareness, interoperability, and the rule of law will,” Gal added.
The plan is still in the consultative phase.
Warming Cyprus-Israel relations
The upcoming Jerusalem summit between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, President Nikos Christodoulides, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu follows a year of warming relations between Nicosia and Tel Aviv.
The deepening trilateral ties have not escaped the notice of Turkey and domestic critics. Ankara has warned that the “militarisation” of the Republic of Cyprus via Israeli air defence systems, such as the Barak MX, directly challenges Turkish interests in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Furthermore, the Christodoulides government has faced internal pressure over its refusal to support EU-led accountability measures regarding the war in Gaza. Critics argue that by intertwining its security so closely with Israel, Cyprus risks becoming an “extension of Israeli regional war operations,” potentially exposing the island to retaliatory threats.
Despite these tensions, the Jerusalem summit on 22 December is expected to formalise further cooperation on energy cooperation, solidifying a “3+1” alliance (with US backing).
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