ABU DHABI // The UAE and Qatari armed forces proved their readiness for combat in a joint military training exercise this week.
The Peace Shield 1/2012 exercise, which involved joint air, sea and land military forces, began on Sunday and ended on Wednesday.
The exercises focused on in different environmental conditions in joint operations, the Armed Forces said.
Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier Essa Rashid Obaid Al Ali denied any relation between the exercises and the political situation in the region.
"These exercises between the two brotherly countries are not linked to what the region is currently witnessing," Brig Al Ali said.
"It comes in the context of joint exercises that have been planned in advance, within the framework of GCC military cooperation."
The Peace Shield 1/2012 exercises are the third set of reported joint operations this year for the Armed Forces since the visit of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the disputed island of Abu Musa in April.
In April, the GCC's joint military forces, the Peninsula Shield Force, conducted air, ground and naval exercises in the region.
The force, which consists of elements from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE, conducted war games called Islands of Loyalty.
A military spokesman said the force would test its members' ability to carry out "special, limited and major missions along coasts and islands within the territorial waters".
Last month, the UAE and France conducted the Gulf 2012 exercises also including a full air, ground and naval attack, with 4,500 combined Emirati and French troops.
Part of the exercise was played out to the press on Umdaddi Hill on the western coast of Abu Dhabi.
