US to send troops to Saudi Arabia amid regional tension
WASHINGTON - The US military said on Friday that the Pentagon has authorized the movement of military personnel and resources to Saudi Arabia to help deter "credible threats."
The move would provide "an additional deterrent, and ensures our ability to defend our forces and interests in the region from emergent, credible threats," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
According to the statement, the Pentagon made the decision at the invitation of Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud has approved hosting US armed forces in the kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported Friday.
The move aims to "increase joint cooperation in defense of regional security and stability and to preserve its peace," the report said.
Citing two defense officials, CNN reported late Wednesday that 500 US troops are expected to be deployed to the Prince Sultan Air Base, located in a desert area east of the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The troops are part of a US deployment plan that will send 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East, the CNN report said.
A small number of troops and support personnel are already on site with initial preparations being made for a Patriot missile defense battery as well as runway and airfield improvements, according to officials.
The announcement of the US force movement came at a moment when the regional situation is volatile.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a US warship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran has denied the US assertion.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on Friday announced that it has seized the British oil tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz because the vessel failed to respect international maritime rules while passing through the strait.
In a separate statement on Friday, CENTCOM said that it is launching Operation Sentinel, a multinational maritime effort to increase surveillance and security in key waterways in the Middle East.
