TIA NEWS /
The biggest ever joint military exercise in Saudi Arabia, the “North Thunder” concluded Thursday amid roars of warplanes and tanks. Nearly 350,000 ground troops from 20 nations in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, including the UAE, took part in the last day of the manoeuvres. The exercises, which took place in the desert near to the Kuwaiti and Iraq borders, began 12 days ago.
According to Saudi agency, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman was joined by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Chief of General staff Gen. Abdul Rahman bin Saleh Al-Bunyan.
Among the foreign leaders present were Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Sudan’s Omar Bashir, Yemen’s Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
As the dignitaries watched from a pavilion, Apache gunships fired rockets with a bone-shaking blast. Smoke rose from targets on the ground and commandos rappelled from helicopters.
Fighter jets streaked through the sky releasing orange flares, artillery shells whistled through the air and heavy machinegun fire boomed from across the drill site, which stretched for dozens of kilometers.
A two-hour mock battle featuring fighter jets, attack helicopters and tanks was among the final events of the exercises.
The maneuvers involved 2,500 warplanes, 20,000 tanks and 350,000 troops, making it the second-largest gathering of forces in the history of the region since Desert Storm.
Officials have said the new coalition would gather in the Kingdom this month for its first publicly announced meeting.
PIX-WAM