There is little reason on the face of it for Saudi Arabian fighter jets to be flying over the Mediterranean. Greece, for its part, has little apparent strategic interest in the Gulf. Its oil mainly comes from Iraq and Russia. The Gulf’s Persian power rivals fought their last war against the Greeks two and a half thousand years ago.

Yet Saudi Arabia’s F-15 warplanes flew from the Souda air base on Crete alongside the Greek jets on joint exercises last month. Last week, the Greek F-16s were in action again, this time alongside F-16s from the United Arab Emirates, as well as Israel. That exercise, codenamed Iniochos (Charioteer), culminated in a highly symbolic flypast over the Acropolis.

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Read more: The Times