On Saturday, Egypt announced the opening of a naval military base called “New July 3” in the northwest of the country.
According to Egypt’s state television, “President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi inaugurated the largest Egyptian naval base on an area of 10 million square meters in the Jarjoub area on the Mediterranean (northwest).”
The Jarjoub region is located on the Mediterranean Sea in Matrouh Governorate, in the far northwest of Egypt, adjacent to the border with Libya.
In a speech during the opening, the commander of the Egyptian Navy, Lieutenant-General Ahmed Khaled, said that “the naval base supports securing the Suez Canal, achieving maritime security, and preventing irregular migration.”
In turn, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper stated, “The naval base includes 74 military facilities and a number of training fields, in addition to an airstrip, an operations center equipped with the latest systems and another for joint training.”
The newspaper added that the naval base “is concerned with securing the country in the northern and western strategic direction, preserving its economic capabilities, securing sea transport lines, and maintaining maritime security.”
And “New July 3” is the third major military base that Sisi has opened since he came to power in the country in mid-2014, after Mohamed Naguib Military Base (northwest) and Berenice Military Base (south of the Red Sea).
Over the past years, Egypt has intensified conducting joint military exercises with many countries of the world, most notably the United States, Russia, Italy, France, the Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, and Sudan.
