MADRID - A conference dedicated to examining new threats towards NATO, such as those posed to the south of Europe by the rise of jihadist terrorism inspired by the Islamic State, was held Wednesday.

It was organized jointly by the public diplomacy division of NATO and the Elcano Royal Institute along with the participation of the InstitutoAffariInternazionali and the Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security.

NATO's Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow will attend and will also take advantage of his two-day trip to Spain to talk to foreign affairs and defense representatives of the Spanish government.

Spain, along with Italy and Portugal, is currently hosting Operation Trident Juncture 2015, which is the biggest NATO exercise since 2002.

The operation, which involves over 36,000 NATO troops from 30 different countries, is designed to test NATO's Response Force and High Readiness Response Force in the face of "a changed security environment and challenges from the South and the East," including scenarios such as cyber-attacks, terrorism, conventional combat and the humanitarian crisis, such fighting would produce.(Xinhua)