Saudi Arabia celebrates Flag Day with displays, special events

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Saudi Flag Day is celebrated annually on March 11. (AFP)
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Public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day. (SPA)
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Public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day. (SPA)
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Public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day. (SPA)
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Public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day. (SPA)
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Public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day. (SPA)
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Updated 11 March 2026
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Saudi Arabia celebrates Flag Day with displays, special events

  • Nation goes green in show of unity, belonging
  • Current design of the flag, which represents unity and sovereignty, was adopted in 1937

RIYADH: A new art exhibition has opened at King Abdulaziz Public Library in Riyadh, as the country celebrates Flag Day, which fell on Wednesday.

The event, titled “In Love with Green,” is being held in collaboration with the Saudi Art Association and features 20 fine art paintings inspired by the Saudi flag, as well as other cultural and contemporary images and landmarks.

The current design of the flag, which represents unity and sovereignty, was adopted in 1937. It features the Shahada and a sword symbolizing justice and safety, representing the unification of the Kingdom during the reign of King Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

The exhibition, at the library’s services branch and reading halls on Khurais Road, was opened by the library’s Director General Bandar Al-Mubarak and the association’s board chair Hanaa Al-Shibly.

Visitors can attend from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Elsewhere in the country, public spaces and buildings have become a sea of green for Flag Day.

In Al-Baha, government buildings, squares and main roads were decorated with green lighting and national flags were hoisted in public squares.

It was a similar picture in Makkah, where people celebrated the annual show of pride and belonging against a green backdrop.

In Tabuk, authorities installed more than 7,000 flags along roads, squares and bridges, while the region’s landmarks and tunnels were illuminated with green and white lights.

More than 10,000 Saudi flags were also hoisted in Jazan, where Souk Al-Awalin in Jazan City is set to host a range of events and performances to mark the special occasion.


Saudi Arabia launches initiative to reroute Gulf cargo to Red Sea ports

Updated 7 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia launches initiative to reroute Gulf cargo to Red Sea ports

  • The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region
  • Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway

 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to redirect shipping from ports in the Arabian Gulf to its Red Sea ports amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war.

Transport Minister Saleh Al-Jasser, who also chairs the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), launched the Logistics Corridors Initiative alongside Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority Governor Suhail Abanmi, Mawani President Suliman Al-Mazroua, and other officials, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The initiative will establish dedicated operational corridors to receive containers and cargo redirected from ports in the Kingdom's Eastern Region and other Gulf Cooperation Council states to Jeddah Islamic Port and other Red Sea coast ports.

Al-Jasser said the Kingdom was committed to ensuring supply-chain stability and the smooth flow of goods through global trade routes. Jeddah Islamic Port and other west coast ports, he added, were already playing a key role in accommodating shipments redirected from the east, while also linking Gulf cargo to regional and international markets.

The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region. Iran has long threatened to close the strait — the world's most critical oil and gas chokepoint, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass — in the event of a war.

Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway, sending freight rates soaring and forcing shipping companies to seek alternative routes.

Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports offer a viable bypass, connecting Gulf cargo to global markets without passing through the strait.