Close-up view for tourists as military drills held on Crete beach

Military service members from Egypt take part in the exercise on Crete (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)

Tourists on the Greek island of Crete got a close-up view of a major military exercise unfolding in front of them.

The annual Medusa exercise, led by Greece and Egypt, ended on a strip of coastline outside the port city of Chania.

It featured drone attacks and fast-boat landings with marines and special forces troops using simulated fire.

France, Italy and Cyprus joined the exercises that began on September 10 and ran through to Friday as countries around the Mediterranean seek to expand their military co-operation.

Greek military police set up a cordon during the drills on Friday to keep bathers from getting too close as Greek and Egyptian service members ran through coloured smoke and onto the beach, while jets and helicopters swooped overhead.

Louise Carr, from York, arrived for a holiday on Thursday and said she was surprised by the intensity of the drill.

“I just saw that it was some kind of military exercise, but I must admit I didn’t expect it to be the scale that it’s been. We were just like: wow,” Ms Carr said.

“I was very impressed, very. You’d pay thousands to watch this, wouldn’t you?”

Wars, economic shocks and questions over the US role in the region have prompted many countries to seek stronger deterrence through a widening network of alliances.

Greece signed a three billion euro deal with Israel in August to build a new air defence system named Achilles Shield. Weeks earlier, Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed their own landmark defence agreement.

Egypt sent the helicopter carrier Gamal Abdel Nasser to the Greek exercise, which also was attended by observers from Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Mozambique.

Michal Sitko, a holidaymaker from Poland, said he felt lucky to catch the spectacle.

“I didn’t expect that. It was kind of amazing that it happened in my vacation,” he said.