The Special Operations Units from the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) and the French Land Forces began last week, in the northwestern area of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, their joint military exercise “Santol 2” as part of framework of cooperation, coordination and exchange of experiences between the Kingdom and the French Republic.

The exercise is part of the military exercises that the Saudi Armed Forces conduct throughout the year with the forces of fraternal and friendly countries, with the aim of raising combat readiness, gaining more field experience and working to unify military concepts and terminology between the parties participating in the exercise, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The Assistant Commander of the Northwest area for Operational Affairs, Major General Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Khashrami stated that “the exercise, which will last for several days aims to strengthen the bonds of cooperation and joint action, and exchange experiences in the military fields, which contribute to raising the military combat capability and increasing coordination between the Saudi Armed Forces and the friendly French Armed Forces.”

He also said that the readiness, preparations and operational plans for this exercise were carried out with all professionalism between the two sides, according to the highest levels of safety followed in such exercises, using simulators and shooting with live ammunition by various ground units, stressing that the RSLF seek to achieve the general and tactical goals set for the exercise.

It is worth mentioning that several joint exercises were held between the Royal Saudi Land Forces and the French Land Forces, in which the two sides demonstrated a high level of professionalism, reflecting the state of military cooperation between the Armed Forces of both countries, which was built decades ago on solid foundations based on the close ties between the two sides.