‘War games to boost military ties with Muslim allies’ – Northern Thunder exercises

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RIYADH, Feb 22, (Agencies): The Middle East’s largest ever war games are now underway and will boost military cooperation between the 20 Muslim nations taking part, host country Saudi Arabia said on Monday, as it seeks to check the growing influence of arch rival Iran. The Northern Thunder exercises, which began on Feb 14 and will run until March 10, involve more than 150,000 troops from the Gulf Arab nations, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal. “The council of ministers … expressed the hope that these exercises achieve what was defined as their goals in exchanging expertise and raising the level of military coordination,” Saudi Arabia’s cabinet said in a statement.

The statement also praised “the levels of preparedness and administrative and supply capabilities” shown by the nations participating in Northern Thunder exercises. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia is concerned by the growing regional clout of Shi’ite Iran, which has just emerged from years of international economic sanctions following an international deal over its nuclear programme. Riyadh, which is contributing the bulk of the troops in the war games, is also worried by the reduced regional role of its key ally, the United States and is seeking to build alternative military alliances as a counterweight to Iran.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition of Muslim countries, backed by the United States, Britain and France, in a war in neighbouring Yemen and says it will contribute troops if Washington leads land operations against Islamic State in Syria. Its war in Yemen, aimed at restoring a government ousted by an Iran-allied militia, is part of a more assertive effort by Riyadh since last year to counter Tehran’s influence.

The Saudi-led military maneuvers code-named “Ra’ad Al-Shamal”, “Northern Thunder” largely aim at exchanging expertise and stepping-up standards of the participating forces, Saudi cabinet weekly briefing stressed on Monday. According to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), “the Cabinet hailed the stages of readiness and administrative and logistic capabilities provided by the concerned bodies for the success of “Raad Al-Shamal” maneuvers, which are considered as the largest military exercises in the history of the Middle East. “The Cabinet emphasized “what was expressed by an official source on halting Kingdom’s aid for arming the Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces, confirming that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been consistently and throughout its history providing support for Arab and Islamic countries.” It stressed that Saudi Arabia has given Lebanon “a substantial share of this support and assistance and it has stood by Lebanon in its all difficult stages” and is keen on achieving “Lebanon’s security and stability and maintains its sovereignty.”

The Cabinet confirmed that “despite these honorable positions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been met with Lebanese positions against it at Arab, regional and international platforms in light of the so-called Lebanese Hezbollah’s confiscation of the will of the State, as it happened in the Council of the Arab League and Islamic Cooperation Organization of non-condemnation of the flagrant attacks on the Kingdom’s Embassy in Tehran and Consulate General in Mashhad which contradict international laws and diplomatic norms.” In addition, to the political and media positions that have been led by the so-called (Hezbollah in Lebanon) against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Hezbollah’s practices of terrorism against Arab and Islamic nations. Recently, Saudi Arabia has suspended its aid package for Lebanon’s army and internal security service, saying Lebanese positions do not match fraternal relations between both countries.

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