The Gulf Shield 1 joint military drills, organised by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence, kicked off Sunday (March 18th) in the kingdom’s Eastern Region, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Ground, naval and air forces from 23 countries are taking part in the month-long exercise, along with the Saudi forces.
The drill, considered the largest in the region in terms of diversity of expertise, aims at raising the military readiness of the participating countries, modernising joint mechanisms and enhancing co-ordination and co-operation, the SPA said.
Egyptian forces are among those taking part in the drill, designed to enhance the skills of the participating forces and develop their abilities to carry out symmetric and asymmetric tasks in different fields of operations, Egypt Independent reported.
