MANILA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States and the Philippines will kick off on Feb. 18 a two week-long yearly "Balikatan" joint war games in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao, the U.S. Embassy here announced on Friday.

    This will be the 23rd "Balikatan" -- meaning in Tagalog language "shoulder-to-shoulder" -- exercise between the United States and the Philippines.

    This year's Balikatan will be co-directed by U.S. Army Major General Stephen Tom and Armed Forces of the Philippines Rear Admiral Amable Tolentino, and conducted under the auspices of the Mutual Defense Treaty and Visiting Forces Agreement, the official Philippine News Agency reported.

    It will focus primarily on humanitarian projects in Mindanao, especially on Jolo Island in Sulu, where medical, dental, veterinary, and engineering projects be jointly carried out by the military personnel of the two countries, said the report.

    There will also be a combined task force staff exercise that emphasizes crisis action planning in a maritime security scenario, which will help the two countries learn to work together in dealing real-world challenges such as terrorist transit routes, piracy, drug smuggling, and critical infrastructure protection, said the report.

    The Philippine military has been conducting military operations against the Abu Sayyaf anti-government forces and some rebellious elements from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a sessionist group in Mindanao.

    Both the United States and Philippine officials have denied allegations that the visiting U.S. troops are directly involved in the combat operations, although they admit U.S. troops "advise, assist, share information with their Philippine counterparts".