Saudi and US military forces have launched joint “friendship” war games in the kingdom’s northern region as the Riyadh regime presses ahead with its deadly campaign against Yemen with Washington’s support.
The maneuvers, dubbed Friendship Military Exercises 2018, are due to continue for several days with the announced objective of boosting military ties between the two countries.
"The readiness” of the Saudi forces taking part in the drills and equipment “to carry out the exercise activities as planned,” Saudi military’s Assistant Training Director Brigadier General Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Buqmi said.
According to the mostly pictorial report, American forces participating in the war games had arrived in Saudi Arabia “days earlier with all its military personnel and technical equipment,” without elaborating on the sorts of military hardware and the number of troops deployed for the drills.
Since March 2015, the Saudi regime, together with a coalition of its allies, has been striking Yemen. It has been attempting unsuccessfully to reinstall Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.
More than 13,600 people have so far been killed since the Saudi military invasion of Yemen began, turning the impoverished nation into the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Moreover, much of the country’s infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and factories, has been reduced to rubble in the Saudi war.
