JEDDAH, 9 May — About 20,000 Saudi troops with air support launched the final phase of war games in the northwest of the Kingdom yesterday.
It said Tornado fighter-bombers swooped down on "enemy" troops as ground forces and naval units advanced in the "Sword of Islam-4" maneuvers near the coastal town of Sharmah on the Red Sea, about 150 kilometers from the Jordanian coastline.
Defense Ministry sources said last month that the Kingdom’s armed forces were conducting routine exercises in the northwest near the Jordanian border.
Some foreign media had reported the Kingdom was mobilizing its troops in the Tabuk region near Jordan during Israel’s military incursions into Palestinian cities on the West Bank.
"These...exercises started about three weeks ago with more than 20,000 troops moving over a distance of 500 km and were carried out without any accidents," Prince Khaled ibn Sultan, assistant defense and aviation minister for military affairs, told told Sauid Press Agency during a visit to the area.
Prince Khaled commended the soldiers who cut short their vacation to join the war games. "Our armed forces stand for the sake of peace and to promote security and stability," he said.
