Saudi Arabia To Launch Massive Military Exercise Inviting 20 States
KABUL: (MEP) Saudi Arabia is getting ready to launch massive military exercises that are to go on for 18 days in which soldiers from 20 countries are invited for participation, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
The Saudi state agency made the announcement on Sunday, adding that participating troops will begin arriving in “the next few hours.”
The Arab Kingdom described the exercises as “the largest and most important” military drills in the region’s history.
The development will take place in the north of the country and will include air, sea and land forces. SPA said that it will show that Riyadh and its allies “stand united in confronting all challenges and preserving peace and stability in the region.”
Among the participants will be Arab and African countries. The US and other Western powers have not been invited.
The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia, has deployed military jets and personnel to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base in fight against Islamic State but the country are believed to be a major supporter of the terrorist group.
While Riyadh says this necessary to “intensify” its operations against Islamic State in Syria, the move has sparked concern that the Saudis are getting ready for a full-scale ground invasion into the war-torn Syria, where they are backing anti-government rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In a recent interview with American media, the Saudi Foreign Minister flatly stated that Assad will be toppled if he does not leave during a political transition.
“Bashar al-Assad will leave – have no doubt about it. He will either leave by a political process or he will be removed by force,” Adel al-Jubeir told CNN.
Since March 26, 2015, Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia with the declared aim of undermining the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restoring power to the fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a Riyadh ally.
Nearly 8,300 people, among them over 2,230 children, have been killed and over 16,000 others injured since the onset of the air raids, which have taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s infrastructure.
