As part of a civilian-military mission to support stability, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army completed a Nablus field hospital in 2024 to treat thousands of local residents. The head of Jordan’s medical mission said the completion of the hospital falls within his country’s overall efforts to aid the Palestinian people. He stressed that the medical staff is working diligently to provide the best care possible to people living in Nablus and neighboring villages affected by conflict. Besides establishing the hospital in Nablus, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army has been running two military field hospitals in Gaza, the latest established in…
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In September 2024, the Musandam Security Force of the Royal Army of Oman, the Omani Royal Air Force and the Bahraini Royal Special Force conducted a 10-day joint military exercise codenamed Arabian Tiger 6. Participants included senior Bahraini and Omani officers such as Maj. Gen. Matar bin Salem al-Balushi, Commander of the Royal Army of Oman, and Brig. Gen. Yasser Mohammed al Muawwadah, Commander of the 24th Special Operations Battalion. Arabian Tiger 6 was conducted in urban and mountainous terrains in Al Dakhiliyah governorate to familiarize the Bahraini Royal Special Force with operations in arduous conditions. The governorate is located…
Calling it one of their “highest priorities,” the foreign ministries of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed a two-year cooperation program in January 2025 that will strengthen ties between the two countries. A Turkmen delegation led by Foreign Affairs Minister Rashit Meredov arrived in Uzbekistan to meet with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. The two sides signed the Cooperation Program between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for 2025-2026 and the Protocol on Inventory and Improvement of the Legal Framework of Bilateral Relations. The two countries discussed the development of political and diplomatic dialogue…
The Houthi militia continues defying regional and international appeals to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people and respect their right to live in dignity. The group carried out a wave of arrests in June 2024. Dozens of Yemeni employees working with international humanitarian aid and diplomatic organizations in Yemen, including organizations affiliated with the United Nations, were abducted on allegations of espionage. Houthi interrogators extracted confessions under duress from innocent detainees that echoed the charges manufactured against them by the group. Detainees were promised release if they confessed to the fabricated charges. Houthis, however, didn’t keep their promise, but…
The Bahraini-British Joint Military Cooperation Committee met for the 29th time at the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence in London in September 2024. The meeting was co-chaired by Bahrain Minister of Defense Affairs Lt. Gen. Abdullah bin Hassan Al Nuaimi and Chairman of the Middle East Team at the U.K. Ministry of Defence Kashif Shandy. Discussion topics focused on strengthening joint military cooperation between the Bahrain Defense Force and the British Ministry of Defence through continued exchange of military expertise and unifying military concepts and doctrines. Continuing productive military engagements, Bahraini Naval Commander Sheikh Isa bin Salman bin Hamad received…
Financial stability in the Arabian Gulf region was a major topic during a conference of the Joint Central Banks Governors Committee of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in September 2024. In a speech delivered at the conference in Doha, Governor of Qatar Central Bank Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al Thani highlighted the importance of adopting sound exchange rate policies to ensure long-term financial and economic stability. Exchange rate policies, he recommended, ought to be tailored to the condition of every individual country. He said pegging currencies to the U.S. dollar continues to serve as a reliable monetary instrument…
The International Maritime Exercise (IMX) assembles maritime forces from dozens of nations to reinforce teamwork, partnerships, integration and interoperability. They practice arresting maritime smugglers, defending sea lanes, disarming mines, launching sea drones and protecting ports. The February 2025 version of the IMX added another dimension to expand the capabilities of the training audience: a complex evacuation of thousands of tsunami victims from a fictional nation. This exercise brought forward many viewpoints to handle a single situation in various different ways. I am confident that the takeaways of this exercise will serve all the participants in planning and executing various exercises…
UNIPATH STAFF | Photos by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Every military maintains a dedicated corps of doctors, nurses and medics to prepare for the inevitability of wounds and injuries. But rare is the chance for such troops, based thousands of kilometers apart in their respective home countries, to share techniques to improve survivability. Bahrain provided such an opportunity for cooperation and integration by holding a Global Health Engagement for 77 medics, nurses and physicians at the International Maritime Exercise in February 2025. On a single mission to treat battlefield casualties, Kazakhs and Uzbeks wrapped wounds, set limbs and stanched…
Jordan occupies a central location in the Middle East and North Africa region, where traditional and nontraditional threats are numerous and diverse, constantly placing the kingdom’s stability at risk and forcing its planning apparatus to operate while facing a future dominated by unpredictability and uncertainty. For that reason, the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army has a constant need to upgrade its capabilities to confront emerging threats in every way possible. This includes participating in military exercises and maneuvers at local, regional and international levels. Military exercises are considered a primary component to maintain force preparedness and ensure our ability to respond…
Seventy-two military vehicles carrying hundreds of U.S. Marines rumbled to life at the break of dawn, their silhouettes splayed across the glowing horizon harboring the Saudi sun. In a military camp outside of Yanbu on the Red Sea, tires churned desert dust as the convoy streamed onto a highway that climbed into the barren highlands outside the city. Over the next two weeks, the U.S. military convoy, accompanied by Saudi and Emirati partners, skirted mountains, lava fields and sand dunes on a military exercise that would take it across the width of the Arabian Peninsula. It was all part of…