Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Makes An Inspection Tour in Jazan

(New Series with more details)


Jazan, January 24, 2010, SPA -- Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Assistant Defense and Aviation Minister for Military Affairs, made today an inspection tour of the Armed Forces stationed at the Kingdom's border.


In response to reporters questions, Prince Khalid thanked Allah for the
blessings, and said "We are now in a location on the borders, where all
strategic mountains in front of you, with the raising of the Saudi flag and the
presence of our soldiers. At the beginning of the events, this area had
witnessed
roaming of infiltrators. But, now all these vantage points are totally cleared,
he added.


"I am talking now from the Saudi border village of Almeresah; the situation is
stable and I can now congratulate the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the
Crown Prince and all Saudi people of the Saudi Armed Forces for the
overwhelming victories, courage and determination in fighting in slopes of
mountains without military vehicles of any sort," he said.


These brave men, Prince Khalid said, marched carrying rations and heavy weapons
on their backs through this mountainous terrain. Yet, they were determined and
managed to come, fight and fall martyred with honor and pride.


The number of martyrs was obvious because our men were fighting in the slopes
all the way up to the summits and here lies the difficulties, he added


"Thank to Allah, we have eliminated hundreds of infiltrators," Prince Khalid
said, adding that he always says that one martyr to him and to the Custodian of
the Two Holy Mosques is too many, but this is our duty. "Everyone is required
to protect and uphold their homeland. Surely, when we say we sacrifice our
lives for our country, we mean it in every sense of the word.



In a reply to a question about the comparison between the current war with that
of Kuwait's liberation war, Prince Khalid said Kuwait Liberation War was a
joint operation involving many powers to liberate a neighboring country.
However, this war is a solely unrivaled Saudi operation. The commands together
with the Saudi Royal Air, Land and Naval forces had forged coordination for a
collective action, and set and defined procedures for handover of target-areas
and for everything else. Definitely, the drills they had conducted are meant
for such events like today, he added


As for the development of special mountain forces, Prince Khalid said wars and
military exercises always yield valuable lessons to enhance our armed forces.
The proud special forces along with all ready paratroopers are there whenever
needed.


The upgrade of the armed forces whether special forces, air, land or naval is
an ongoing process and receives unlimited support from the Custodian of the Two
Holy Mosques - the Supreme Commander of all armed forces and also receives
constant follow-up from the Crown Prince, he added.


With regard to information on the extent of cooperation between Al Qaeda and
the infiltrators, Prince Khalid said "We have confirmed information from many
different bodies that there are contacts, coordination and common interests
between them in advocating sabotage, but by the will of Allah, we will defeat
them all".


In response to another question about the number of missing, Prince Khalid said
"I had told you that the number of missing is 26, some or most of them were
martyred but we cannot say they were killed unless we received their bodies.
Moreover, I have also said it several times and I am saying it now, after
liberating all mountainous areas whether in Jabal Dukhan, Al Doud and Al
Rumaih, we have received 20 bodies of our martyrs. In other words, the number
of 26 missing decreased to 6-missing only as the number of martyred increased
to 20 fatalities so far.

Prince Khalid commented on the bravery of the Saudi soldiers by saying that I
am not a Judge for the Saudi Armed Forces, but honestly, the Saudi armed
forces' tactics from the technical point of view in identifying the
infiltrators' weak and strong points in mountainous areas and in addition to
the lessons learned and observed in the wars in Yemen in the sixties or even
the days of King Abdul Aziz and his conquests, or tactics in Afghanistan, with
the build-up experiences, we have tried to avoid all the mistakes, thus the
losses, as I told you, are considered too many even if the number is few. we
have succeeded well and created some of the tactics of our own and only
attributed to the Saudi army which will be an added-value for the lessons
learned.


With regards the reports on the crash of Saudi Apache during the war, Prince
Khalid said that I read such reports but if such a thing did happen, the whole
world would be aware of (this). Frankly speaking, the losses of the armed
forces are two Hummers which were taken by the infiltrators and were destroyed
with the infiltrators on the next day; two pick-up cruisers of which one was
destroyed; one equipment transporter which was destroyed at the same time; and
one rescue and evacuation winch; about 13 machine gun 12-caliber which were
totally destroyed; and one water trailer which was destroyed at the same time.

On precautions to be undertaken by the Armed Forces, Prince Khalid said the
Armed Forces will stay in the area.


As regards establishing a military city in Jazan region, Prince Khalid said
"Yes, we are considering such a city".


On the issue of support received by the infiltrators from other countries in
the field of training, Prince Khalid said that "We have destroyed all of their
training facilities and arms".


As regards the death of Abdel Malik Al-Houthi, Prince Khalid said that "We've
received unconfirmed information, but I can not confirm this matter unless I
receive confirmed information."


--SPA