Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, received Wednesday evening at King Khalid Military City in Hafr Al-Batin the leaders who came to attend the closing maneuver of Thunder North Military Exercise and the parade by the Saudi Armed Forces and the participating forces from brotherly countries, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Those received by King Salman included: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Chad’s President Idriss Deby Into, Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Comoros’ President Dr. Ikililou Dhoinine, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Morocco’s Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Deputy Premier, Minister of Housing and Lands, and Minister of Islamic Affairs and Hajj in the Republic of Mauritius Showkutally Soodhun, Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein, Minister responsible for Defense Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman Badr bin Saud bin Hareb, Malaysian Commander of the Armed Forces Zulkifeli bin Mohamed Zain, and Minister of Defense and National Security of Maldives Adam Sharif.
They were also received by Prince Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Governor of the Eastern Region, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense.
King Salman held a dinner banquet in honor of the leaders.
The audience and banquet were attended by a number of Princes and senior officials.
North Thunder is a military exercise which kicked off in the Kingdom mid February promoted the exchange of military expertise between the 21 participating countries.
The countries joining Saudi Arabia in the operation are the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Senegal, Sudan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Chad, Tunisia, Comoros, Djibouti, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Egypt, Mauritania and Mauritius, in addition to the Peninsula Shield forces.
SPA said this exercise as the “largest and most important military man oeuvre in the history of the region” using qualitative military equipment of diverse sophisticated weapons.
