JEDDAH: As many as 9,000 officers and soldiers will be assigned to protect the “Hajj metro” train service and passengers, a security chief said.
The Al-Mashaaer Al-Mugaddassah Metro, as the transport service is known, operates for one week a year during the main pilgrimage season.
The commander of the Facilities Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Saad Al-Jabari, said that his forces are ready to maintain the security of the train service this year.
Al-Jabari, in an exclusive interview with Arab News, said new military vehicles would be deployed for the first time this season to confront any possible terrorist threat.
Preparations and training of his forces are complete and will help in the smooth running of the train line, Al-Jabari said.
Facilities Security Forces are responsible for protecting public facilities, such as oil, electrical and other vital facilities, Al-Jabari said. The forces are about to take over the administration and protection of new posts, such as the Civil Affairs agency, health centers, Saudi Railway Company train stations, and the security forces’ hospitals in Makkah, Riyadh and the Eastern Province.
New command centers will also be opened for the forces in many regions.
Al-Jabari said that there are currently intensive overseas courses being conducted for 45 officers and 200 soldiers in different countries, and that they will be appointed as trainers upon their return to the Kingdom.
Facilities Security Forces, with direct support from the interior minister, recently received a number of armored vehicles and tactical weapons, which will be used to protect vital facilities in the Kingdom, Al-Jabari added.
Security chief: 9,000 Saudi officers to protect Hajj metro
Security chief: 9,000 Saudi officers to protect Hajj metro
Saudi Arabia condemns remarks by US ambassador to Israel on Middle East, calls for clarification
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned remarks made by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting that Israeli control over the entire Middle East would be acceptable, describing the comments as reckless and a violation of international law.
US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee said it would be acceptable if Israel took control of the entire Middle East, including the West Bank, on Saturday.
Huckabee suggested that he would not object if Israel were to take most of the Middle East.
In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “categorically denounced” the comments, rejecting what it described as irresponsible statements that contravene international law, the United Nations Charter and established diplomatic norms.
The ministry said the remarks represented a dangerous precedent, particularly as they came from a US official, and amounted to a disregard for relations between the US and countries across the region.
It warned that such positions carry grave consequences and threaten global peace and security by inciting hostility toward the peoples and states of the Middle East, while undermining the foundations of the international order based on respect for sovereignty and internationally recognised borders.
Saudi Arabia called on the US State Department to clarify its position on the remarks, stressing that the proposal was rejected by peace-loving nations around the world.
The Kingdom reaffirmed its firm opposition to any actions or statements that infringe on the sovereignty, borders or territorial integrity of states, reiterating that a just and comprehensive peace can only be achieved by ending the occupation and implementing a two-state solution.
That solution, the statement said, must include the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
