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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 27, 2003

US, Saudi Arabia Agree on Military Cooperation

The United States and Saudi Arabia have reached new agreements that will allow expanded US air operations from Saudi territory, including full use of Prince Sultan Air Base as an air operations center, in the event of war against Iraq.


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The United States and Saudi Arabia have reached new agreements that will allow expanded US air operations from Saudi territory, including full use of Prince Sultan Air Base as an air operations center, in the event of war against Iraq.

The Washington Post Wednesday quoted an administration officialas saying on Tuesday that "we've had talks over the past three weeks that have been very productive, and both we and the Saudis are satisfied."

"We've reached agreements that affect facilities inside Saudi Arabia and a broad array of military operations that could happen in the event of hostilities with Iraq," the official said.

In addition to the use of the air command and control center atPrince Sultan, 70 miles (about 112 kilometers) southeast of Riyadh,the Saudi capital, the agreements will allow the United States to fly refueling aircraft, AWACS surveillance planes and JSTARS battlefield radar aircraft from Saudi airfields, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the United States will also be permitted to use Saudi airfields to base fighter jets that undertake interception missions against Iraqi aircraft and enforce the "no-fly" zone oversouthern Iraq.

The accords clarified a lengthy period of uncertainty about theextent of Saudi cooperation with the United States in event of a war with Iraq.

Coupled with the approval by the Turkish government of a plan which allows US ground forces to launch operations into Iraq from Turkey, the agreements with Riyadh provided Pentagon war planners with another important building block in the Gulf region for a possible military campaign against Iraq.


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