AMMAN - Only Jordan and the United States are to take part in this year’s Eager Lion military exercise, commanders said on Sunday, compared with the 18 nations which participated last year.

A total of 6,000 troops will undertake 10 days of manoeuvres in the kingdom — 3,000 from each country and including special forces as well as air, ground and naval forces, Brigadier General Ralph Groover said.

Jordan’s Brigadier General Fahd al-Damen said nothing should be read into the absence of other participating countries this year.

“This exercise was from the outset a bilateral event but in recent years we organised multilateral manoeuvres at the request of other countries,” he told a news conference.