President Barack Obama announced Thursday morning that the US military would not be participating in the joint US and Egypt war games this year due to Egypt’s crackdown on protestors yesterday.
The military exercises, called Operation Bright Star, have occurred every 2 years since 1980, and have worked to strengthen ties between the US and Egyptian military, Daily News Egypt reports.
According to The New York Times, Obama stated that the US does not want to damage their relationship with Egypt, but that “our traditional cooperation cannot continue as usual while civilians are being killed in the streets.”
Obama added that the right path for Egypt to take is one of political reconciliation, rather than the violence many witnessed yesterday when security forces broke up demonstrators’ sit-ins.
Canceling the war games is the first concrete step that the US has taken to rebuke Egypt’s actions, which resulted in the death of more than 500 supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, beyond a statement released yesterday “strongly condemn[ing] the use of violence against protestors in Egypt.”