Salman to attend ‘North Thunder’ closing ceremony

RIYADH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman arrived in Hafar Al-Batin to attend the closing ceremony of the ongoing military exercise “North Thunder.” The King is also to inspect the military parade of the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia and other countries taking part in the exercise. King Salman laid the foundation stone for the King Saud Air Base in the Eastern Sector. During the ceremony, he watched a model of the project and a documentary film illustrating the salient features of the air base project and other facilities. Earlier, on arrival at the King Saud Air Base, the King was received by Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense; Prince Saud Bin Naif, emir of the Eastern Province; Assistant Minister of Defense Muhammad Al-Ayesh; Chief of Staff Gen. Abdurahman Al-Bunyan; and other high ranking civilian and military officials. Armed forces from 20 countries are taking part in maneuvers described as one of the world’s biggest military exercises. The exercise involves ground, air and naval forces. A major goal of the exercise is to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terrorist groups. The exercise commenced on Feb. 14 and will end tomorrow (Thursday). Addressing the media two days ago, spokesman of Coalition Forces and adviser at Defense Minister’s Office Brig. Ahmed Al-Asiri said that the exercises were carried out over a wide area to give experience to the troops in mixed environments. He said unprecedented and sophisticated methods of war tactics were applied using state of the art land, sea and air weapons and equipment.