Manama: Saudi Arabia has denied reports that Egyptian and Pakistani army units had been stationed in the north of the kingdom.
“We are pleased with our distinguished relations with Egypt and Pakistan, but this report [about the presence of troops] is not true,” National Guard Minister Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz said.
“We in Saudi Arabia do have the capabilities to defend our lands,” the minister said as he visited units of the National Guard stationed in the north of the Saudi kingdom.
On August 2, a report claimed that Saudi Arabia had asked Egypt and Pakistan to station troops along its 800-kilometre border with war-torn Iraq as part of a deployment of men and high-tech machinery to boost vigilance against security threats.
Both Pakistan and Egypt denied the report.
Prince Miteb said that the 27 million people living in Saudi Arabia, including civilians and the military, were all its defenders.
“The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz stressed it in his historic address in which he stated that he was at the forefront of the people who will defend the nation,” the minister said, quoted by the official news agency, Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Regarding the terrorist threats issued by some groups against Saudi Arabia, Prince Miteb said: “They had better not approach the Saudi borders.”
Prince Miteb said that there were “several suspicious organisations, directed from abroad, that attempt to carry out their plots and schemes in the kingdom in order to undermine security, fuel sedition and brainwash Saudi youth.”
“Confronting such groups is the duty of all people, particularly religious scholars and opinion leaders. Armies take up fights, confront armies, protect the borders and defend the country militarily. However, confronting intellectual onslaughts and secret plots is a common mission where citizens have a prominent role. All people should be united for genuine patriotism is not merely a slogan, but a responsible commitment and full awareness of what is being plotted against the nation,” he said.
The minister added that the National Guard units were ready to be deployed anywhere in Saudi Arabia where they were needed.
“We have female elements and that is not something peculiar. They are in our hospitals and Saudi women are an integral part of the human development drive in the kingdom,” he said.
