Greece and Israel carry out joint air force drills

Exercises are the first since the flotilla incident; Greek-Israeli relations have shown improvement in recent months.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Greek warplanes 311 (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Greek warplanes 311
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Greece and Israel are carrying out their first joint military exercise since Greece suspended a drill in May after Israeli forces killed nine people on an aid convoy to Gaza.
The Greek air force says eight Israeli helicopters are taking part in the combat search-and-rescue exercise in southern Greece. Greece is participating with three helicopters and six fighter jets.
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The four-day exercise ends Thursday.
Athens strongly condemned the Israeli raid on the aid convoy, which included two Greek ships and was trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
But relations quickly improved, with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou visiting Israel in July, and a reciprocal visit to Greece in August by Benjamin Netanyahu.