On behalf of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, the Saudi Chief of General Staff General Fayyad bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, sponsored Sunday a new batch of the graduation ceremony of the qualification course for graduate officers.

Upon arrival at the site, General Al-Ruwaili was received by the Commander of the Saudi Royal Land Forces General Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Mutair, and the Commander of King Abdulaziz Military College General Dr. Ali bin Saleh Al-Hudhaif, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The ceremony was attended by the Assistant Minister of Defense for Executive Affairs Dr. Khalid bin Hussein Al-Biyari; the Deputy Chief of the General Staff, the designated Commander of the Joint Forces General Mutlaq bin Salem Al-Azaima, leaders of the branches of the armed forces, and senior officers of the armed forces.

In another development, General Al-Ruwaili has extended thanks to His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, on the occasion of inaugurating eight housing and medical projects for the Ministry of Defense staff in a number of regions across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The projects, inaugurated by HRH Crown Prince, included six housing projects with 3,797 housing units, including King Saud Air Base in Hafr Al-Batin housing project, the Armed Forces housing in the Northwestern Region, the housing project for families of King Salman Center for Mountain Warfare in Al-Taif, the Armed Forces housing project in Sharorah, in addition to the first phase of the Armed Forces housing project in Jazan and the second phase of the Armed Forces housing project in the Eastern Region.

HRH Crown Prince also inaugurated several medical development projects, such as the project to establish the cardiology center at the Armed Forces Hospital in the Northwestern Region with a capacity of up to 130 beds, expansion of Prince Sultan Armed Forces Hospital in Madinah, which will increase capacity to 100 beds, while the expansion will add 10 units for ICU, operations rooms equipped with the latest medical equipment and departments for emergency, radiology, laboratories, pharmacy and a blood bank.

The projects come as part of the new development programs carried out recently by the Ministry of Defense with a total cost of more than SR4 billion (US$1.06 billion).

Meanwhile, the Falcon Claws 4 exercise continues between the Royal Saudi Land Forces and the US forces, which began a week ago in the Northwestern region.

The exercise aims at strengthening military relations between the two countries and provides training in command and control operations, indirect shooting training, offensive combat transport, explosive disposal and improving the compatibility of the military equipment of the two sides.