Okaz: Riyadh: al-Jazeera Shield will not take part in the war against Iraq

The Assistant for Saudi Arabia's minister of defense and aviation Prince Khaled Bin Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz has stressed that al-Jazeera Shield force which is in Kuwait, which is led by Saudi Arabia will not take part in any military action against Iraq.

In a statement to the Saudi daily Okaz issued yesterday, Prince Khaled explained that the existence of this force came at the request of Kuwait in order to help the Kuwaiti army in protecting the Kuwaiti territories without foreign missions.

On the other hand, Prince Khaled had denied his country to have had decided to break the military ties with the US, describing news published to this effect as groundless.

He said that the presence of the Americam, British and French forces at Prince Sultan base in Riyadh will come to an end when the reason for the presence of these forces will end, namely the implementation of the UN resolutions to monitor the no-fly zones in southern Iraq.

The Saudi deputy defense minister also denied that the issue of the foreign forces presence, especially the American forces to be controversial inside Saudi Arabia.