Saudi forces conduct massive military drills

Saudi forces conducted on Tuesday their largest military drills to date, which were carried out in front of foreign officials along the Saudi borders with Iraq and Kuwait.

The drills were described by the Saudi media as the “largest ever” in the history of the Kingdom.

Saudi newspaper Arab News quoted Saudi General Hussein Al-Qabeel as saying at the closing ceremony: “By conducting this exercise, we are preparing our forces to defend our holy places and our achievements … and we don’t intend to attack anyone because it’s not the Kingdom’s policy.”

He continued: “These manoeuvres are aimed at raising the training level of our forces and testing their preparedness to deter enemy attacks.”

According to the newspaper, Al-Qabeel also stressed that “the Kingdom would defend itself against any aggressors. The exercise was carried out under the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, supreme commander of the armed forces.”

It reported that 130,000 Saudi troops took part in the exercises, backed by “by military jets, helicopters, ships, tankers, anti-missile systems and other heavy equipment”.