Eager Lion participants discuss post-Daesh terror threats

AMMAN — A seminar for senior commanders participating in the Eager Lion 2017 drill was held on Saturday at the InterContinental Amman Hotel, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Participants discussed the threat of terrorism, including in the post-Daesh era.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Freihat, Commander of United States Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel and senior commanders from participating countries attended the seminar, during the opening of which Freihat delivered the greetings of His Majesty King Abdullah, the Supreme Commander of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF), to all participants. 

In the seminar's opening speech, Freihat highlighted the importance of joint cooperation to combat terrorism and extremism, highlighting the challenges facing global security and peace §and the growing extremism in areas witnessing clashes and wars, used by terrorist organisations to execute their agendas. 

For his part, Votel highlighted the importance of unifying all military and civil efforts and increasing the level of coordination and underlined the role of the Global Coalition to Counter Daesh member countries' efforts to combat terrorism on the military and ideological fronts, adding that the security of borders contributes to limiting the spread of extremist groups, Petra reported. 

Participants focused on the challenges facing their countries regarding border security and the possibility of the return of foreign fighters to their countries, in addition to challenges facing countries hosting refugees when it comes to security, education, economy and social aspects. 

They also discussed possible future threats that could arise after Daesh and the importance of unifying efforts to rehabilitate societies and rebuild them, especially the ones that suffered from wars and control by terrorist groups, in addition to the importance of unifying statements sent to the media. 

The countries that participated in the seminar included, along with Jordan and the US, Italy, Pakistan, Belgium, Kuwait, Lebanon, Australia, the UK, Japan, Iraq, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Egypt, France and Qatar.

Eager Lion is an annual joint exercise that has been held in the Kingdom since 2011.

On the sidelines of the seminar, Freihat discussed in separate meetings military-related issues with Votel and Chief of the General Staff of Kuwait Lt. Gen. Sheikh Abdullah Mubarak Al Sabah.