The US military is shifting its major air operations center in the Middle East from Saudi Arabia to Qatar, the New York Times reported Monday.
Oversight of air missions to Iraq and the Middle East will be transferred this week from Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Al Udeid Air base in Qatar, the report added.
President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have not decided whether to make the move permanent, it said. "Whether we'll stay there or not -- nor sure," General Tommy Franks, head of US Central Command, told the paper.
"But we do know that since we have it, we want to be able to run some operations out of it," Franks said, referring to a headquarters the Pentagon built at Al Udeid a year ago.
US officials stressed that the move does not mean an end to military relations with Saudi Arabia. "We are not leaving Saudi Arabia," a Bush administration official was quoted as saying.
The Pentagon will use its two-year-old air command center at Prince Sultan Air Base to oversee military exercises, and could shift air operations back there in a crisis, the report said. (Albawaba.com)
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