Last American contingent leaves Prince Sultan base in Saudi Arabia

The last American contingent left yesterday Prince Sultan Air Base in al-Kharaj to the south of Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, ending thereby an American presence that lasted for 13 years.

Western diplomatic sources said that a secret celebration was held on this occasion, but journalists were banned from having access to the base.

The sources told western journalists that some 100 Americans of the engineering unit and civilians as well as soldiers left yesterday the base in which the major part of thousands of American soldiers and coalition forces in the kingdom were stationed in.

The sources did not disclose the place where the departing troops left to, but noted that only that what is left in the base are 10 French assigned to train Saudi soldiers on relief operations and maintenance of helicopters.

Riyadh and Washington agreed on May this year on the withdrawal of thousands of American soldiers positioned in the Kingdom since the end of the Gulf war in 1991 following a visit carried out by the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Then, the US announced the transformation of the general headquarters of its air force in the Gulf region from Prince Sultan Air Base to al-Aideed base in Qatar. Saudi Arabia has rejected an American request to deploy forces on its territories during its preparations for the recent war on Iraq.