Saudi Arabia: Four African armies join 20-country military exercise

Egypt, Morocco, Sudan and Senegal have joined Saudi Arabia’s “North Thunder” military exercise on Saturday, February 27, 2016, aimed at training troops to fight against terrorism.

The military exercise, which is held in the north of the Saudi Kingdom, according to the country’s SPA news agency, is “one of the largest in the world” with soldiers from 20 participating countries.

#North_Thunder is the largest military drill in the world in terms of the number of participating forces.#SPAGOV

— SPAENG (@Spa_Eng) February 27, 2016

“The exercise is intended to train the troops to fight against illegal forces and terrorist groups in the midst of growing threats and political instability in the region,” the agency said.

The organization of these maneuvers, involving land, air and sea, is a “strong signal” to the will of the participating countries to “preserve the security and stability of the region”, it was indicated during the announcement of the exercise in mid-February.

No indication was given on the duration of the exercise which comes at a time Saudi Arabia is multiplying military initiatives in the region, the last of which included the sending of four F-15 fighters to Turkey to participate in strikes against the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) on Friday.

Other countries involved in the exercise are Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey.