Commander of Saudi Arabia’s Northwest Region Major General Hussein bin Saeed Al-Qahtani attended the mixed bilateral ground exercise (Tabuk-5), which was launched last Thursday, with the participation of Egyptian Land Forces, it was reported today.
The four-day exercise aimed to enhance military cooperation between the two countries, raise the efficiency of combat units, exchange information and military expertise and enhance readiness to confront any potential threat.
Director of the exercise Major General Khaled Mohammed Al-Khashrami said the exercise is one of several military drills scheduled in the joint military exercises plan with friendly and brotherly countries aiming to unify concepts and joint work between ground forces of the two countries as part of the series of joint (Tabuk-5) exercises implemented by Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) with its Egyptian counterpart.
Al-Khashrami said that operational plans for this exercise were carried out with professionalism between the two sides as per highest levels of safety followed in such activities, using simulators and live ammunition by various ground units, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The Commander of the Egyptian force participating in the drill explained the importance of training in unifying concepts and exchanging experiences as it contributes to raising the rates of combat performance, stressing his confidence in the readiness of the participating elements to train on planning and managing joint tasks professionally and efficiently.
The Tabuk 5 military drill is one of the largest joint exercises between the two countries in terms of the size of the participating forces and the diversity of training activities. The training confirms the depth of military cooperative relations and the growing fruitful partnership between the Egyptian and Saudi Armed Forces in order to coordinate efforts to face common challenges in the region.
In another development, the Egyptian navy and US forces carried out a cross-border naval exercise in the Red Sea with the participation of the Egyptian frigate ‘Alexandria’ and the two destroyers ‘USS COLE’ and ‘USS JANSON DUNHAM.’
The exercises involved a range of different naval combat activities, including situational image analysis (surface, air, subsurface, and electronic), Egyptian media reported.
They also included transportation exercises, training on maritime security procedures in the Red Sea, countering atypical maritime threats, as well as an exercise to protect ships carrying important cargo.
The exercises demonstrated the ability of the joint naval units to carry out their tasks accurately and efficiently to maintain the security and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and are an affirmation of the strategic partnership and bilateral relations between the Egyptian Armed Forces and their US counterpart.
