RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s armed forces concluded a joint exercise with the participation of units from countries in Egypt and elsewhere, the Kingdom’s Defense Ministry announced on Friday.
The “Bright Star 2023” exercise concluded at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base in the city of Hammam, Marsa Matrouh governorate, in the presence of the head of the Armed Forces Training and Development Authority, Maj. Gen. Adel Al-Balawi, and the military attache to Egypt, Col. Abdulkarim Al Sudais.
The conclusion of the exercise saw the application of a number of combat scenarios, as the armed forces units participating in the exercise carried out command center training, parachuting, storming terrorist outposts, live shooting, sea raiding, air missile defense training and defense against weapons of mass destruction.
The units also participated in the Bright Star Forum workshops.
The joint military exercise, which ran from Aug. 31 to Sept. 14, involved 8,000 troops from 34 countries, with host country Egypt providing the largest contingent of more than 2,300 troops, followed by the US with about 1,500 service members.
Aside from Egypt, the US and Saudi Arabia, other countries with troops on the ground during the exercise include Cameroon, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Malawi, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, and the UK.
Participating as observers were Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Republic of the Congo, Hungary, Japan, Nigeria, Oman, Poland, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and the UAE, according to a report on the US Central Command website.
